It was morning.
We were the only ones in the arena. The others were still sleeping.
Somehow, Rash had started waking up early to train with me.
At first, it had felt strange. Normally, I was alone during these hours. The quiet let me focus, think, and train in peace. Having someone else there had even been a little annoying. But that was only at the beginning.
Now I had started to like his presence.
The morning training no longer felt lonely.
Our duels also changed. Instead of fighting somewhere in a corner of the arena, we now fought in the center.
It almost felt like a real fight.
With one difference.
These fights were not for anyone else.
There was no crowd cheering and placing bets on our lives
There were only the two of us.
And the swords in our hands.
Even though we pointed sharp blades at each other with the intent to kill—
There was this strange sense of peace.
When the duels ended, we both sat down in the sand.
Legs stretched out, hands resting behind us for support, swords stabbed into the ground beside us. We sat next to each other, both facing the entrance where the guards were sitting.
They played cards on a table far too small for grown men.
Our chests rose and fell as we caught our breath. The duels had lasted a long time, and we were both exhausted.
Silence settled between us.
Only our breathing disturbed it.
But it wasn't an awkward silence.
If anything, it felt comfortable.
"Adonis."
Rash broke the silence first once his breathing had steadied.
"Yeah."
Neither of us turned our heads, we still looked at the open gate.
"How did you arrive here?"
His tone was soft.
Mine was dry.
"By ship."
Rash didn't react to my dry tone and just asked again.
"No. That's not what I meant. I mean… what happened to you? Where did you live? How did you arrive here?"
I had already understood his question.
Letting out a slow breath, I answered honestly.
"It doesn't matter. I arrived here. That's all. Same as you."
My tone had turned colder than I intended.
My tone was rather cold without me realising.
It wasn't because of Rash.
It was the question itself.
I could tell him about my past. It wouldn't even be difficult. But there was still something inside me that resisted, stopping me from explaining further.
A memory.
The girl who had died not long after hearing my story.
I knew I wasn't the reason for her death.
But the memory still lingered, stopping me from speaking about my past.
Rash remained silent for several minutes after my answer. We simply sat there, staring ahead at the guards playing cards.
Then—
"I was born and raised in Labet."
He broke the silence again.
Both of us were still looking forward, and the way he spoke made it seem like he was talking more to himself than to me.
But he continued.
"Labet is a harsh place. Everything there revolves around survival. Anything that isn't necessary for it…gets discarded."
He paused for a moment.
"Just like me."
"I don't remember my parents. The only thing I remember is waking up alone in an underground cave."
He let out a quiet breath.
"In hindsight, that was rather lucky. Labet doesn't have big cities or kingdoms like the other continents. Most people wander the desert like nomads, searching for a place to survive before moving on again. Houses are a privilege we don't have."
"So being left behind in a cave—protected from the sun—was actually fortunate."
"But the years that followed weren't."
"My memories are hazy. But I somehow crossed the desert under the blazing sun. At night, beasts hunted me. During the day, the heat drained what little strength I had. I survived by eating leftovers from carcasses and cactus fruits. Every day was exhausting. Little by little, I grew weaker. Eventually, my body gave up. No food. No water. I collapsed, and my eyes closed. I thought I was going to die."
He exhaled slowly.
"But the next day I woke up in a carriage. My body was still weak. Still close to death. That was when an old man handed me a cup of water and some food. I drank it instantly and ate like a starving beast."
He chuckled faintly.
"I wasn't saved out of kindness. The food wasn't a gift. It was payment."
"Payment for me to work."
"The people who found me were bandits. They had discovered me unconscious in the desert. The old man took a liking to me and decided I could be useful. So they kept me. And that's how I became their errand boy. I carried their things, maintained their weapons, sometimes they even used me as bait to lure beasts…or caravans."
He shrugged slightly.
"And that's how the years passed with me being their errand boy. I didn't even have a name back then. They just called me 'boy.' We robbed caravans, killed travelers. Maybe one of those caravans even carried my family."
"I never knew. And I didn't care."
"I had no name. No memories of my family. I had been abandoned. So why should I care about them?"
There was a flicker of anger in his voice, but it faded quickly.
"In the end, I grew up with those bandits. They taught me how to survive and fight. The old man who first gave me water taught me the most. He was also the one who taught me swordsmanship."
His voice softened slightly.
"One of my favorite lessons from him was his two-step principle."
I tilted my head.
"Two steps?"
Rash chuckled.
"Yeah. He said it was the most important rule in life."
Then, as if mimicking an old man´s voice, he continued.
"Step one: Always take free money."
"Step two: Look good while doing it."
I almost laughed.
But Rash continued before I could.
"Anyway… the years passed. The bandits started bringing in other kids like me as errand boys. Soon there were too many of us, and since none of us had a name, things got confusing. The bandits couldn't call us all just 'boy'. So they decided to give me one."
"A name."
His voice grew thinner.
"In Labet, nothing is free. Not even names. If you want something… you take it. That's what they told me. So one day they took me along on a raid. They put a sword in my hand…and made me stand in front of a man."
"The man had already been beaten and was injured. All I had to do was push the sword into his chest. But it was still the hardest thing I had ever done."
He paused briefly.
"But in the end, they forced me, and I stabbed him. One of the bandits stepped forward afterward and told me the man's name was Rash. And since I had taken his life…"
"…I would take his name."
"From that day on, I wasn't called 'boy' anymore."
"I was Rash."
He breathed slowly before continuing.
"At first, it felt strange being called that. But the more they used it…the more it started to feel like mine. The years passed, and I joined more raids. Nothing major happened. The adults handled most of the fighting, and I mostly supported them."
His voice drifted slightly.
"Then everything changed."
"It was just another raid. But the caravan we attacked wasn't from nomads. They were merchants. And their guards were far stronger than the bandits. Most of the bandits died, the rest ran. I wasn't fast enough and got caught."
"The guards were about to kill me, but the merchant stopped them. They decided it would be better to sell me as a slave. To recover some of their losses."
He shrugged.
"It wasn't dramatic. That's just how life works. We had preyed on weaker people, and this time we chose prey too strong for ourselves. So we became the weaker ones. My life was over at that point. But there was nothing I could do but just accept it.
"Eighteen years old. Already at the third stage."
"They said I would sell well. So they chained me and threw me onto one of their carriages. The journey didn't take long before the carriage boarded a ship. I remained locked inside the carriage while they fed me every day. From the guards' conversations, I learned where we were going."
"Drakoria."
"Days turned into months on the ship. It was my first time at sea, and the waves made me sick. The weather slowly grew colder. At first, it felt comfortable, but eventually I started freezing."
He chuckled softly.
"At that time, my only wish was simple: I wanted to see the sea."
"I spent months on that ship. But I never saw it even once. The carriage doors were too thick. The only light came through a small opening above. Enough to see the sky, but not the ocean."
A chuckle broke out of him.
"Eventually, we arrived. The carriage left the ship. It was already night then, and before I could even look around, they pushed me toward a gate. I entered and suddenly found myself underground, inside a mountain. And before I understood anything…"
"I was standing in an arena."
"They told me to kill the other teens."
He kept staring forward as he finished.
"Funny, right?"
His voice was soft.
"A boy with a name that isn't his own…ended up on the other side of the world…without ever seeing it."
He let out a quiet chuckle.
"But that's my story."