《Hells pits》 Prologue - the pits The country of Cora had long since fallen into ruin due to the ravages of war. Streets were controlled by the new rulers of the country the Oralia empire and unrest lay in the hearts of the poorly treated masses, however within this discontentment some found ways to profit, one such venture was the illegal fighting pits which were hidden in the corner of every slum. The worst of these pits as well as the most infamous was Hells pit, the pit was the largest and most influential fighting pit in the kingdom attended by the masses and nobles alike. Anyone could enter the pits so long as they had the talent and anyone could make a bet so long as they had the money, within the pits there was three types of fight: first blood, knockout and death match. And so it was on an ordinary night in the darkest part of the slums that a figure stalked into Hells pit. The figure was of average height and wore a loose fitting black cloak that made it impossible to distinguish their figure or even gender, under the cloak the figure showed off a white mask filled with red markings with two sharp horns protruding from the edge of the mask. The figure approached a table at the back of the pits where a frail looking older man resided, however you''d be a fool to trust that appearance alone. The man was in fact the infamous, if not unofficial leader of Coras underworld and one of the most influential men in the country, especially with the arrival of foreign powers, pissing him off was a sure fire way to be found the next day face down in a river. Approached by the mysterious figure the man merely raised an eyebrow, fighting pits were still labeled as illegal by their new rulers despite there popularity leading to a numerous patrons appearing in disguise. Besides in the old man''s experience it was usually the influential ones who felt the need to appear in disguise so it never hurt to be polite. "Greetings guest are you here to place a bet or to fight yourself?" the masked figure let out a low gravelly voice "I''m here to fight." the old man nodded "first blood, knockout or death match." "death match." This made the old man take a sharp intake of breath, it wasn''t that death matches were uncommon far from it but it was very rare for a newcomer to debut with a death match. The old man however said nothing about this, afterall he had not built up such a huge ring of illegal fighting pits by being kind nor would he waste his time babysitting the weak incompetent or the deluded cocky, if the lad wanted to risk his life it was of no concern of his. Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author. "understood, your first fight will be in ten minutes against the regular crusher, if you wish to withdraw do it now you''ll get no mercy here." The cloaked figure said nothing and the old man nodded "What name should I register you under and would you like to place a bet on yourself?" The cloaked figure paused in consideration then spoke "register me under the name demon and I''ll bet ten silvers on myself." the old man could have sworn he heard the mirth in the figures voice. "understood your fight will be starting shortly, please wait in the gallows until then." The figure nodded and handed the ten silvers they''d bet on themselves to the old man, as the old man saw the figures hands a wicked glee swept through his eyes. A resolution in his eyes the old man held out his hands "I''m igrix I''m in charge of hells pit as well as most of the other fighting pits on Cora." The figure shook the mans outstretched hand "demon, I''m here for the money." the old man smiled upon hearing someone so frank with their desires "well then I wish you the best of luck." demon nodded and walked off while Igrix leaned back on his chair and cackled "Now this''ll be a good fight it''s been too long since we had talented new blood on the pits, and besides," Igrix''s voice quietened to a mummer "I''d really hate to be on the end of anyone with hands like those, those types of callous''s and scars don''t come without the serious ability to survive such scraps." However Igrix''s grin soon returned to his face as he heard the announcement just given out. "And for the last fight of today we have a special death match, for today it''s our regular winner Crusher versus a new unknown Demon. Make sure you''re watching closely folks as it''s not a fight you''ll be wanting to miss." Igrix couldn''t agree more, surely this would be a fight to remember .................................................................................. Hi guys thanks for reading the start of my story please leave a comment so I know if you like it so far - Autumn12 Chapter 1 - the fight Within Hells pit the atmosphere took on a feel of savage intensity as the guests of the pits stared in anticipation as a newcomer came to challenge one of the pits most popular veterans to a death match. Although the newcomer had not been seen before nobody commented on the undue death match, if demon was killed so be it, it just meant they were too weak to survive anyway. The world was a harsh place and no one had room to look after weaklings. Despite the assumptions no one looked down on the demon, afterall underestimating an opponent was a surefire way to end up with a knife in your throat if you weren''t careful, and the people who entered death match were either very skilled or very desperate either if which makes a fighter harder to deal with. The winner would receive no aminosity from the crowds and it was considerd customary to ask a defeated foe for their blessing before sending them to the afterlife. There was no hatred between fighters, afterall they understood as well as the any other that there was no fixing the current rotten to the core country, let alone the empire and so it was each for their own. No one would condemn another for trying their upmost to survive in this harsh world which is why the fighting pits worked so well at current times. As Demon entered the pit they came face to face with a large cheerful looking man holding a bloodied club, "Nice to meet you I''m crusher." called Out the man in a loud and jovial voice, contrary to his appearance, or at least his weapons appearance, "Demon." replied Demon in a detached voice and the two turned silent staring at the opponent who may very well be the last person they ever saw. Trapped in thought the two stared at each other intently, well as intently as Demons mask would allow, when suddenly the announcers voice rang out "death match Crusher versus Demon, begin." as the voice rang out Crusher ran with a level of speed surprising for one with such a huge stature. Unfortunately for the larger man it wasn''t quite quick enough, weaving through his defences Demon continued to dance in and out of Crushers clumsy lunges and grabs as well as the swing of his club. To the crowd however it seemed as if Demon was only just avoiding the fists thrown by Crusher and that it was looking to be a very evenly placed fight. Stopping at opposite sides of the pit Crusher stared down his aponent "Stop dodging and take it like a man." Yelled crusher, the effect was however ruined slightly by his large gasping breaths. Demon remained silent and finally went on the offence weaving in and out of Crushers defence Demon slowly got closer until finally he spotted an opening. This book''s true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience. Withdrawring the knife kept in their cloak demon moved in for the kill, in that instant the number of competitors in the pit dropped and the number of corpses rose. "Winner Demon!" called Out the announcer in an excited voice, giving a short bow Demon silently left the pit and went to collect his winnings from Igrix. Igrix still sitting at his table smiled as Demon approached "good job kid, the odds were against you three to one so you made thirty silver." Demon nodded "Thanks." They replied in their gravelly tone and then walked off. Igrix smiled, the kid was clever, to most of the rabble in the crowd it appeared as though Demon had just scraped a win, this meant the betting odds on him stayed low allowing him to make more money in the long run. His display also caught the attention of any veteran fighters in the crowd who could immediately tell he''d been drawing the match out using skill and had still won, opening up oppertunity for a sponsorship or a tournament position later on. Igrix chuckled once more things were going to get very interesting soon enough. Walking out of the fighting pits Demon immediately climbed onto the roof if the nearest building and continued to jump from roof to roof over the ramshackled slum housing until eventually they arrived at an old and halfway collapsed cottage. Silently scaling down the side of the cottage Demon dropped to the floor and scampered into the building. After looking around to make sure no one was present they let out a sigh of relief and removed the cloak and the mask, letting them drop to the ground what remained was a fith-teen year old girl with long curly brown hair and harsh violet eyes. Quickly wrapping the mask in the cloak the girl placed the bundle underneath a rotting floorboard. Now that her disguise was hidden demon let our a sigh if relief and made her way towards the only livable room, entering the room one could see about seven children all under the age of ten curled up sleeping in various parts of the room. Watching the children with a quiet smile Demon weaved in and out of the sleeping children to find a small place on the floor to curl up and sleep. .................................................................................. Sorry for the shorter chapter but please enjoy nonetheless and leave a comment or rating so I know how you feel about the story - Autumn12 Chapter 2 - what you lose in a war Demons POV It had been two years since the country of Cora had been taken over by the Oralia empire, overwhelmed by the gap in power Cora should have fallen easily however not many were willing to give up on their country quite so easily leading what should have been a short conquest into several years of long and bloody battles. The long years of war had bankrupted Cora and even put a strain on some of the resources of the empire, however that did nothing to stop Coras inevitable fall. To make up for their losses the empire soon implanted heavy tax on the conquered country leading to the widespread creation of the slums as well as the pits. However the losses on a personal level were the ones that hurt the most, once the war ended the empire rounded up any high ranking soldiers who had opposed then and had them hung. Effectively crippling the military force of Cora in a way in which it might never recover, this also left a great deal of orphan children with no family and no prospects. I sighed as I looked around my room still thinking about the war, afterall it was the reason why I and several children lived on the floor of a decrepit cottage. We simply had nowhere else to go. The children surrounding me were war orphans picked up by me during the soldiers executions, they were the reason I had finally decided to fight in the pits to earn money, despite the fact it went against my morals. I snorted thinking about it, morals were only for those who could afford them and in this time of high taxes and poverty it was a luxury I could not afford. It was morning now and I had lots to do today in preparation for my later fight, taking out my knives I silently slipped out of the cottage and went outside into the garden to stand in front of the three makeshift targets that I had pinned to some trees. Forgetting about all my problems I focused only on the targets in front of me and calmly began to throw a knife at each one in sucession, soon the targets were filled with knives and an hour had been and gone. Sighing at the lost time I gathered my knives and went back into the house where the first if the kids had begun to wake up. "Morning Lia." yawned one of the younger kids as he saw me come in "Morning Tom, are you gonna come and help me make breakfast?" Tom grinned and immediately followed me to the only other usable room in the house the kitchen. Arriving in the kitchen we quickly settled into our daily routine where Tom quickly went outside and picked whatever edible plants he could find while I stewed the ones we had to make soup. Ten minutes later and the rest of the children had awoken and joined us in the kitchen "Ok, Ok," said I laughed "everyone find a seat outside and I''ll bring out breakfast in a little while." Tom and the six other kids ran outside while I smiled, they''d had such hard lives for kids and I''d not been able to protect them from the sights of war, nor the deaths of their parents but as long as they could keep smiling I was happy. Finishing tge stew off I grabbed the mismatched assortment of bowls we had managed to salvage/steal. Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website. Grabbing the bowls I quickly walked outside carrying as many of the bowls as I could, once all the kids had been fed I turned to face them "Ok kids today I''m going to need to go out on a small errand so i''m going to need all of you to stay here for today." the kids nodded except for the youngest Layla who tightly grabbed my shirt "Can''t you stay?" I gave a sad sigh and picked Layla up and put her on my knee "Sorry sweetheart, I know I said I''d play with you today but it''s important." Layla gave me a sad look but eventually gave a sullen nod nonetheless, I almost sighed again I knew me not being here all the time was tough on the kids but I needed to work to get the money we needed to live. Even if we had food and shelter for the minute things would not stay like this forever and I wanted the kids to have a better life than the one I had given them, or tge one I''d had myself and so it was for their sakes that I had spent night after night moving round lesser fighting pits in an attempt to raise money, but it was not nearly enough. Although I had enough to support us the eldest of the kids I looked after, Sophie, was reaching ten meaning if I wanted her to get an apprenticeship or go to a school I needed the money for it before she came of age at ten. And so my only option was to fight "I promise I''ll be back early and I''ll bring something nice as well." upon hearing this all the kids faces lit up and I couldn''t help but let out a smile. "Ok, ok go clear up your plates. Sophie stay behind a sec." the other kids rushed off and Sophie stayed behind quietly looking at me with questioning eyes "Are you ok Lia, your nit hurt are you?" Sophoe looked at me with worrying eyes, she alone knew what I was doing to warn money so that she knew what to do if one day o didn''t return. "I''m fine Sophie I just have some errands to do today I won''t be too long, anyway you know what to do if something happens and you know where the money is?" Sophie nodded her face still painted with worry, I hated to burden such a young child but I had no choice "good girl now remember stay out of the soldiers way and whatever you do don''t let them find Layla." Sophie nodded again and I ruffled her hair "good girl. I''m counting on you." Sophie gave a small smile and walked back into the house while I took a quarter of the money I made yesterday and went into town, it was time to take care of some buissnes. .................................................................................. Hiya to anyone reading this, hope you liked the chapter and please leave a comment or review so I know how you feel about the story :) - Autumn12 Chapter 3 - stupid people Walking as quickly as I could I hurried through the slums into the nicer part of town, although we were poor I had a reasonably pretty face and wore simple clothes giving me the appearance of a merchants daughter an appearance that aided me greatly in my second opcupation. Weaving in and out of stalls I soon came to an decrepit looking shack, glancing around to make sure no-one was watching me I quickly dashed into the shack. Upon entering Darius, an old friend of mine who was sitting behind a desk looked and smiled at me "well if it isn''t little Lia, here for a job?" I smiled "if you''ve got any quick ones." Darius mirrored my smile and rummaged through some papers "I''ve got one, but it''s dangerous." I paused for a minute considering. My seconnd occupation was a messenger, but not just any messenger I was one of the people who helped deliver the underworlds messages. The job itself wasn''t too bad but the price for being caught could end up as death depending on what sort of message you were carrying, not only that but sometimes the employer gets worried you''ve seen a little too much and tries to silence you. But just like the fighting pits the money was good if you survived and I was so close to getting enough for Sophie to apprentice with the local merchants guild. "Deal, who am I delivering to?" Darius smiled "Thanks for the help, the message this time is for a high profile underworlder known as Igrix." I quickly rearranged my features into an expression of neutrality "understood." I held out my hand to take both the money and the message, Darius quickly paid up and gave me an adress for a house in the nicer area of the nobles district but then looked at me with a serious expression "Lia whatever you do stay on this mans good side, he has more power then you can imagine and what''s worse he could end your life instantly. I wouldn''t send you at all but we need someone unassuming." I gave him a smile "I''ll be careful, I always am." Darius gave out a weary smile but said nothing more as I hurried out the door in the direction of the nobles district. Navigating my way through the various streets and avenues I soon arrived at the entrance to the nobles district. The district itself was surrounded by a wall, to enter you had to pass a weapons search. In theory this was supposed to prevent the assassination attempts most nobles were so fond of, not that that stopped any of the skilled assassins anyway though. Smiling, in a hopefully, prettily manner I walked past the guards as if it was the most natural thing in the world. Unfortunately I didn''t get far "Oy, you! I''ve not seen you around here before. What''s your buissness here?" I turned around to find myself face to face with what appeared to be a young lords son, as he saw my face his eyes grew slightly lustful and he stared undisguisingly at my body "I''m sorry young master I''m just here to visit my uncle." The Noble continued to look at me with disgusting eyes and it took all my self control not to slam his face into the ground "Are you now, what''s your name?" I sighed realising he wasn''t going to let me go easily "Violet." (my usual false name) I replied unwillingly, refusing now would just bring more attention and on a messenger job the last thing I wanted was attention. "Well violet, I''ve taken a liking to you. How would you like to....get to know me better." he said the sentence as a statement rather than a question, trying to hide my disgust I noticed Igrix standing nearby. "Uncle!" I yelled running towards him, I wad taking a risk seeing as he didnt know me as I looked now but I was hoping he''d play along. Grabbing his arm I quickly whispered in his ear "sorry to do this I''m violet I''m one of Darius''s messengers please play along." the same savage joy as when I''d seen him as Demon appeared in his eyes as he stared at the now pale youth "well now young man I don''t think I''ve seen you before. Did you want my niece for something?" The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. A dangerous look appeared in Igrix''s eyes, I admired his acting skulls while trying to hide a smile. The Noble backed off as he recognised Igrix "N..no I mean, I don''t need anything. I''m...I''m sorry I didn''t know she wad your niece." I turned my head, ok now I was in real danger of laughing "well that''s good," said Igrix smiling cheerfully "I''d hate for anything to happen to you should something have happened." The young nobles face lost all colour as he backed away "W..well I bid you well." the Noble ran as fast as he could out of sight while I finally let out a laugh "oh that was hilarious, thank you for your help." Igrix let out a kind smile "Your quite welcome my dear, however" Igrix''s eyes hardened and suddenly his grip on my arm tightened "How did you know who I was, I''ve never met you before you shouldn''t know what I look like. So who are you?" I tried not to panic and to let out a smile "I saw you at Hells pits." I whispered after checking there were no soldiers close by, "my brothers a fighter though he''s only been in one fight at Hells pits." Igrix loosened his grip on my arm and instead stared at me with renewed interest "and your brother is?" I was about to reply when I noticed Oralia soldiers patrolling the street. Smiling lightly I grabbed his arm "Come on uncle let''s get home so that we can catch up." Igrix followed my line of sight to the soldiers and nodded in agreement "Of course my dear, it''s been a long day." walking quickly to the refuge of Igrix''s house I quickly withdrew the message and passed it him "Thank you for your service and I apologise for the earlier theatrics." "Think nothing of it," said Igrix immediately placing the letter down and turning to stare at me "I am however interested in your brothers identity." I secretly cursed in my mind, truth be told I was hoping he would forget. I needed to tell him something to excuses my knowing him but if he investigated further I could be discovered and though that didn''t matter on its own I couldn''t let anyone discover the kids, especially Layla. I sighed, oh well if he discovered me I''d have to deal with it later "He''s going by Demon." Igrix let out a wide smile "I expected as much, please give your brother my regards on his first match." I gave a smile that I hoped in no way showed my irritance "of course, well please call Darius if you need to send a message to anyone." Igrix nodded a preoccupied expression on his face. Walking out of Igrix''s house I once again left the nobles district only to run face first into the Noble from earlier accompanied by soldiers "humph we meet again, I''ll ask you to accompany me..." I moved before he had a chance to finish his third rate villain monologue, I was annoyed I''d given Igrix any information on me. It was time to get rid of that annoyance. Dancing through the soldiers my knife killed all it came into contact with until finally the Noble was the only one left standing, his mouth hanging open on shock "it is unfortunate for you," I started as the Noble turned and ran "well that''s rude." I yelled catching up to him my knife on his throat "Now as I was saying, it is unfortunate for you that I am in a very bad mood right now." I slit the nobles throat enjoying the panicked look in his eyes. Stepping back I admired my handiwork before letting out a sigh, I''d overdone it and this kind of incident would generate talk. I turned deciding to ignore and made my way back to Darius''s to tell him I''d finished the request all while pondering on my Vicious actions. Though I''d never admit it the war had broken me in a way I would never quite be able to fix.