The whole Colosseum went silent.
Not because the execution was over.
Because it was a human child who was going to face the Dreadvex Ape. The announcement hung in the air like a guillotine blade suspended by a single thread, waiting, threatening, inevitable. Elves who had been cheering moments ago now sat frozen, their hands half-raised, their mouths half-open.
The mockery had died in their throats.
The laughter had choked into silence. Even the primates, the war-gorillas that had torn apart the other prisoners with such savage glee, had retreated to the edges of the arena, their massive bodies pressed against the walls, their red eyes fixed on the iron gate beneath the stands.
The Dreadvex Ape.
