Aralt washed himself, the water sliding down his skin was a sensation he hadn't felt for months. The bar of soap he used was of lavender scent and he used it excessively. Sometimes he would stop the water and soap himself and then continue with showering.

  After an hour of bath he got out of the tub for washing, he wrapped the green towel on himself and stared at his clothes.

  "Man I hope they aren't dirty." Aralt thought as he regretted not putting them on after washing. Aralt then put on his slippers which were slippery as the water from the bathtub spilled over onto the ceramic floor.Aralt sighed and grabbed his clothing and went to his room

  Aralt barely got to his room unscathed,as he was rocking back and forth because of the slipperiness of the slippers, majority of the time his right hand was on the wall and his left held his clothing.

  Aralt entered his room and locked the door, he clumsily made his way to the bed nearly falling over 3 times and then enthusiastically sat on his bed and took off his slippers by pelting them across the room with his feet. when he put on the clothing he heard a knock on the door.

  "Who is it?" Aralt loudly asked.

  "Valentian. Open the door." Valentian spoke in a stern voice.

  Aralt bolted towards the door and clumsily opened it.

  Valentian had a smile on his face. "Good news. The headmaster was present in his Office. The request for family visit has started to circulate."

  Aralt's smile showed his teeth and Valentian continued to speak "today you will start your training, and depending on your progress you will fight another gladiator. You will have about 10 matches before you can fight for money infront of a crowd."

  Aralt then flipped his long blonde hair over his ear. He responded loudly,happily and joyously. "Great! When exactly do we start?"

  "Now" responded the old man.

  Aralt's jaw dropped and his eyes were wide open, he gasped. "Are you sure? I just washed myself,if I get sweaty I will have to wash myself again!"

  Valentian smirked and said "boy,the life of a gladiator ain't easy! You will have to train as much as possible. even if it means washing yourself as much as possible. Now come with me,we have a lot to do." He gently poked aralt with his cane and started walking towards the training room.

  Both of them walked out of the sleeping quarters and went towards the door in the middle,the hallway which leads towards the training room is narrow, 7 feet wide.

  Aralt and valentian walked until the end of the hallway where there was a brown door with iron doorknob. Valentian opened the door and both of them continued walking amongst the many hallways of the underground.

  Aralt and valentian came across a rather dilapidated hallway,lit by a single torch and with many holes in the wall.

  "Why is this hallway so..... uncared for?" Aralt asked,surprised and a bit nervous. The usual nicely lit hallways of the underground replaced by a dark and broke hallway shocked aralt as he expected top notch maintenance.

  "Sometimes certain parts of the underground infrastructure do not get maintenance, because of financial reason or some other reason." Valentian started shuffling by the bag he had on his right hip. "We will start today by training your stamina." He spoke while he grabbed the key and continued towards the door.

  Valentian was quick,much quicker than aralt. Valentian was already halfway across the hallway with his key in his hand while aralt was still standing near the entrance.

  Aralt slowly started to walk,checking out all the blown out torches and holes in the wall. He walked until something caught his eye.

  A particularly large hole in which there were 2 white lights.

  Aralt abruptly stopped and valentian started to try and unlock the door.

  "I need to get this doorknob repaired!" Valentian yelled while trying to unlock the door. Nearly breaking the door know.

  Aralt didn't say anything,he just kept staring at the two white lights.

  "Are those eyes?" Aralt thought.

  Valentian pushed towards the door trying to unlock it. "I REALLY should get the doorknob repaired!"

  Aralt kept staring at the two white lights.

  "What is that?"

  Valentian concentrated really hard on trying to unlock the door until suddenly "ah HA!" A click was heard and valentian unlocked the door.

  At that moment the two white lights blinked.

  Aralt's heartbeat became furious,a chill ran down his spine. The hairs on his body got up,his eyes widened. He could feel blood rush throughout his body and into his face.

  As Valentian opened the door aralt bolted at him running furiously he pushed through valentian,nearly knocking him down.

  "WHY THE FUCK DID YOU DO THAT FOR?" Valentian asked ragefully, his nostrils inflared and his fists clenched.

  Aralt's breathing was loud and erratic. his arms were spread out like a stick man drawing and his knees were bent,his back was hunched.

  "I think I saw a monster!" Aralt yelled.

  "A MONSTER? WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT?" Valentian violently replied back.

  "it is true! I believe I saw a pair of white eyes stare at me from one of the holes while you were unlocking the door! I saw them blink!" Aralt's looked around his breathing became a bit calmer.

  "From which hole?" Valentian asked,his voice noticeably calmer and less angry,but he was still tense.

  Aralt's head snapped back at valentian "The big one in the middle to my left." Aralt spoke,a fearful tone could still be heard in his voice.

  Valentian didn't bother to reply to aralt,instead he turned around and walked over right to the hole where aralt stared at,he turned his head towards aralt and aralt nodded to confirm that was the hole.

  This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.

  Valentian turned his head towards the hole and stared at it deeply,analysing it carefully. After a full minute of watching the hole valentian wobbled over towards aralt,closed the door shut and locked it.

  He left the key in the key hole then turned towards aralt and said "there is no monster,it was probably some bugs that you saw. That is all." Even though valentian was dismissive of aralt,he didn't look at aralt. His head was concentrated at the floor,clearly in deep thought over something.

  There was a silence for a full minute.neither of them moved, neither of them spoke.

  Valentian's face glided through many emotions while his eyes wandered around.those emotions were fear,anxiety. And stress. He was visibly tense.He scratched his chin and then his eyes wandered accidentally towards the eyes of aralt. Who the entire time was also tense.

  Valentian was shocked and recoiled a bit and then composed himself.

  Valentian spoke "alright then, we will first start by training your stamina. I want you to run 50 circles around the room mid pace."

  Aralt did as he was told and started running while valentian sat on a chair in the middle.

  On the 8 lap aralt started sweating. On the 12 lap he started to breathe, valentian closely watched him.

  On the 18 lap he started to slow down his running a little bit.

  On the 32th lap aralt Was tired.his arms flailed around,he was bathing in sweat and he was breathing loudly.

  On the 50th and final lap aralt was barely walking,breathing loudly. His clothes were completely drenched in sweat. When he completed the 50th lap he collapsed on the ground. Valentian got up and brought him water.

  Aralt's eyes were closed as sweat poured down on them,he cleaned himself with his sleeve. Valentian came up to him and gave him a bottle of water, aralt frantically drank the water. His gulps clearly heard across the room. When the bottle was empty aralt exhaustedly asked "m..more water." Valentian complied and went to fetch him another bottle of water.

  As aralt sat on the floor,his eyes wandered across the room. He saw weapons made out of iron and wood,shields and and armors. He also saw a white door from which valentian came out with the bottle of water.

  As valentian gave aralt the bottle of water aralt asked him quietly "what's behind that white door?"

  Valentian replied "kitchen,and next to the kitchen is a bathroom."

  As the word bathroom echoed throughout Aralt's mind he got engulfed by the desire to pee.

  He got up and quickly hurried to the bathroom.

  After he relieved himself and washed his hands,he returned to valentian and drank the bottle of water that valentian held. Aralt then placed the bottle with a determined thud on the table and asked valentian "so, what's next?"

  Valentian smiled and replied "see that training buddy over there?" He pointed behind aralt. Aralt turned his head around and when he saw the blank doll filled with hay he turned his entire body to face it. "I see it. Am I supposed to hit it?"

  "Yes!" Valentian replied loudly "but you will have to wear armor,shield and hit it with a wood sword!." The clank of his wood cane reverberated across the room. "Wait there,I will go and fetch you the equipment."

  Aralt turned his head around to see valentian rummage through a huge chest. He then turned around to look at the training buddy. He thought "am I going to win my first fight? When can I see my family?" Aralt sighed, the thuds of various equipment echoed throughout the room as valentian pushed aside many things to search for the right ones.

  After half a minute of searching valentian found the equipment and carried it towards aralt. He dropped it near aralt nearly stumbling and falling.

  Valentian said "put these on,and hit the training buddy as hard as you can."

  Aralt looked at the equipment before putting it on.

  The equipment was large. The armor seemed too heavy for aralt but he still managed to move. The shield was 15 pounds heavy and he held it in his left hand and sword in another.

  "Now,go and attack the training buddy." Valentian spoke and aralt complied.

  Aralt charged towards the battle buddy,his armor clanking as he does so. He stood infront the hay filled doll and started to hit it. After his 5th hit he accidentally hurt his wrist and dropped the sword, yelling out "OW!"

  Valentian waddled closer towards aralt,picking up the sword. "Boy! Be careful! This is how you hit with a sword!" Valentian then swung with proper technique showing aralt how to swing a sword properly.

  Aralt smiled and nodded as valentian gave him the sword. Aralt then started swinging at the large doll, first slowly then with each consecutive strike he got faster and faster.

  Valentian did several steps back and watched aralt carefully.

  After 5 minutes of swinging aralt was tired,sweat and breathing heavily. His muscles felt like they were weighed down by rocks.

  Between his breaths aralt said to valentian "I am not sure if I can continue training-" valentian abruptly cut off Aralt's concern with the words "yes you can continue to train aralt! 10 more minutes! I know you can do it!"

  Aralt kept on hitting the doll. Each strike was loud. after 10 minutes of hitting the doll he fell over, his helmet fell on the ground and aralt let go of the sword and shield.

  "P..p..please help me take off the armor" aralt was barely able to mutter those words,that was how much the exhaustion had taken a toll.

  Valentian came closer to aralt then when he took off Aralt's armor aralt said "help me walk to the kitchen." Valentian held aralt as they went to the kitchen.

  Aralt hastily drank water there then went to the bathroom.

  After he got out of the bathroom he sat on the floor and asked valentian "are we finished for today?"

  Valentian replied "seems like it."

  Aralt gulped down water and looked at valentian and said "what do you mean by seems like it?"

  Valentian replied while swaying his right hand "well I meant that since you are too tired to continue to hit the doll we will be taking a rest today,then continue tomorrow."

  Aralt looked at the white door and said "I think I am ready to go."

  Valentian didn't say anything and both of them left the kitchen.

  As valentian stood infront of the door he noticed that the key wasn't in the doorknob. He looked down and saw the key on the ground,he bent over to pick it up and unlocked the door.

  Aralt walked past him,too tired to say anything.

  Valentian stepped once out of the door and started looking at hinges, he noticed that the iron hinges of the door seemed a little bent. He scratched his beard and his heart started to beat a little bit faster.

  Valentian then closed and locked the door. He looked towards the hole where aralt said he saw two eyes. He only saw darkness.

  Valentian went to his room.

  Meanwhile aralt washed himself and went to sleep in his pajamas. That night he dreamed that he was In a dark dungeon with many corridors and many hallways. He ran through each one but he only came across a wall which would stop him in his tracks. Finally one hallway which had a sea of blood and bones was left unexplored. Aralt didn't want to go there, but he felt as if he had to. So he reluctantly went down the hallway, stepping over skeletons and getting his boots soaked in blood.

  After much walking he came across 5 statues with moving axes. Aralt went infront of one statue and just as the axe was about to hit him he woke up.

  He heard two muffled voices

  "....yeah I do not know how the door got broken. Can you make a request to the administrator for a better door?"

  "Sure, I can. You Truly do not know how the door got broken?"

  "I do not know! I was training aralt and when we finished I noticed that the door was broken! Before we trained the door was completely fine! It's shocking to me that the door got broken without either one of us hearing it!"

  "I see."

  "Can you just go now and make the request to the administrator?"

  "Sure."

  Then aralt heard footsteps gradually grow fainter and fainter

  Aralt laid in his bed,arms behind his head."huh? A broken door?" He thought.

  He got up and walked out of his door. He was greeted by valentian looking at a sheet of paper. Valentian looked up at him and said "hey. Guess what,instead of training today. We will go exploring and shopping. How does that sound?"

  "Sounds good to me!" Aralt replied ecstatically before swaying his tone of voice to a more serious one "but i do not have money to buy anything,will you be buying things for me?" Aralt asked inquisitively.

  "Yes I will be buying things for you aralt!" Replied valentian.

  A smile dawned on aralts face and he placed his hands on his hips,he leaned a little to the left and asked valentian "so when are we going?"

  "Now." Valentian gave a deadpan reply and turned around towards the door "come" said valentian. And aralt followed him with haste.

  Eventually after their silent but short journey through the tunnels they reached the large Hall when aralt first arrived In underground.

  Just as they took their fifth step a man with bloody clothes ran through the underground markets "MURDER! A MURDER HAS HAPPENED! SOMEONE KILLED MY GLADIATOR!"

  Aralt and valentian halted, aralts eyes and mouth grew wider while valentian squinted his face firm.

  The distressed man fell into the arms of a large guard who had a brown moustache "A MURDER? WHERE?" The guard replied in his coarse voice. "IN THE ROOM OF MY GLADIATOR,I FOUND HIM KILLED!" replied the crying man. Another guard much younger than the previous one with golden hair on his head said to the man "LEAD US TO THE DUNGEON!" The disheveled man then turned around and started running towards his dungeon. With several guards following him.

  Both aralt and valentian watched the scene unfold with curious glints in their eyes.