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The ship that carried the soon to be initiated gladiators landed near the stadium and reopened a grav-lift to the sandy ground. "Step through the hole in the floor the lift will handle the rest," Said a voice through a speaker mounted on the ceiling. Alt stood up and stepped into the hole, slowly he descended to the ground, which lay 25 feet below him, the sand felt course on the bottoms of his feet as he touched down. Quickly Alt stepped out of the way so that the rest of his squad could land. The air of Baltist was dry and stung Alts throat as he breathed. "All gladiators this way!" yelled out a Forerunner carrying spear in one hand. Alt walked slowly towards the Forerunner who pointed towards an arched rough sandstone door that led into the stadium. Alt and the rest of his troops walked through the door and into a dusty room filled with creatures of all shapes and sizes all with there ankles chained and under constant surveillance by Forerunner guards. Several Forerunner guards walked up to Alt and his squad carrying the shackles for there legs, quickly the Jackal like creatures closed shut the cold metal bracers around Alts ankles and clicked a lock shut. All around him he heard the locks being locked around the squads legs. Behind them a huge metal door was closed sealing off the entrance. "Follow me you will undergo your first challenge in four hours," said a Forerunner guard. "Already," said Alt. The Forerunner led them into a small room filled with armor and weapons, along the walls several Forerunner hammered away on pieces of armor that were damaged from previous fights. "Take a sword, don't even try to fight in here or you will be killed immediately," said the Forerunner. The squad walked over to the weapons rack and began to pick up whatever weapons that seemed to fit them best. Most of the swords were about 27 inches long and deeply resembled roman design, along the edge little chips were taken off from previous battle and several of the grips were blood stained. "According to the program you will be fighting today without armor while our blacksmiths attempt to make something that will fit your strange shapes," said the Forerunner. Alt gripped his sword for some reason it felt strangle familiar to him. Almost as if he had been fighting with it for years, he could almost picture himself slaying many a creature with this weapon but for every time he envisioned himself killing he saw himself being killed. That's when he realized it even the movement of a hand could change his future and now he had to choose his destiny. "Follow me to the training room," said the Forerunner guard, "well let you get used to your weapons before you fight." Slowly the squad following the Forerunner filed out of the room all with weapon in hand, Alt stayed near the back of the group balancing the sword in his hand, thinking. The training room was a rectangular pen with an open roof along the outer edge of the stadium. There in a chair along the side sat Feyd Sera in his golden robe watching his newly bought gladiators fight without drawing blood. He noticed a tall human fighting at the far end of the training room that was fighting another human. Clank! Clank! Clank! Went there sword as the taller human parried then went on the offense making a move to one side then striking the other way, the technique that he fought with was almost like he had been fighting for years with sword. Then in a blink of an eye the man made a slashing motion and stopped the sword just short of his opponent's neck. The man then lifted away his sword and shook hands with his opponent. "Call him over," said Feyd to one of his servants that sat next to him, "I want to talk to him." "Hey! You!" yelled out his servant pointing to the tall man, "Get over here!" The tall man quickly jogged over to were the servant stood. "I have noticed how well you fight," said Feyd, "what is your name." "Alt sir" said the tall man, " was Sergeant Alt the leader of these men." "Good," said Feyd, "will your men die for you in combat." "They will do what is best for the group as a whole," said Alt, "even if it means sacrifice." "Excellent," said Feyd seeing Alts hand tighten around his swords grip, "don't even try to kill me I'm surrounded by the strongest personal shield I could buy and you will just be killed instantly by the guards, that wouldn't be good for the men now would it." Alt grip in the sword loosened, "no it wouldn't." "Good, tell your men to get line up in a double line," said Feyd getting up from his chair, "It's time to see just how good you are." ~ The double line of gladiators of both human and covenant races stood before a metal gate that led to the arena floor. "You will fight to your deaths," said Feyd gazing upon the troops, "you will die for the crowds." Slowly the metal gate lifted up revealing the huge circular arena floor, all above them rising up 300ft into the air thousands of Forerunner spectators sat cheering. "Now go, and please them all," said Feyd. The gladiators led by Alt walked out onto the arena floor. Alts could almost feel the death in the packed sand floor on which they were to fight, he took a deep breath and gripped his sword tightly. Up in the stands there was a platform with a large gold throne upon it a tall Jackal like creature wearing a black cuirass with shapes of plants and creatures that resembled horses upon it in silver walked out and sat down. As he sat the whole stadiums attention seemed focused upon that one Forerunner. The emperor, thought Alt. On the other side of the arena floor another gate opened and a group of strange tall creatures resembling apes walked out holding swords. The whole stadium cheered and then fell silent. The emperor stood up and began to speak, "my fellow Forerunner, today you are about to see a long awaited spectacle. Today one of our many experiments we have created finally has returned to their birth place." The whole crowd cheered and then fell silent again. "And now it is time for them to prove that they are better then the originals, if they succeed our experiment will have been a success. But if they fail we will be forced to purge the galaxy of our experiment gone wrong." The crowd cheered and again fell silent. "Now let the battle begin!" Next: Battle for a Race |
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