When in Rome - HG Competition Entry

Task 5: Power of the Gods

After the Gladiatorial combat the Gamemaker's enforcers had stripped him of his armor and weapons and directed Jaiden to a small room with just a bed where he was instructed to remain until morning. Not that he had much of a choice as the door to his room had a lock with a timer on it.

There was no congratulations, no bandages, no food and Jaiden didn't get to see any fights between others tributes. Having seen them all arriving in cages earlier he figured there must have been at least a few other fights.

Right now though there was little he could do about any of it. He had a bed, a sore arm and a room with a timed lock on the door. As far as he was concerned; nothing else mattered.

Sitting down heavily on the cheap wooden bed with a straw mattress he searched the walls for cameras only to find none.

'Great, I can't even talk to my imaginary friends.' he thought wryly as he brushed a hand through his hair. It had gone messy and slightly sticky making him wish there had been a rudimentary shower in there with him at least.

Or a bucket of water and a bar of soap. Anything, really. He was starting to smell pretty badly.

He let himself drop on to the mattress, sending some dust clouds flying, and tried to get comfortable as best he could. Hopefully tomorrow would be a better day.

Considering how bad this one had been it wouldn't take much for it to be better but he knew it could also get much, much worse. Inhumane noises to keep him awake at night, Valerie Golding's look of bestial rage even as he had liberated her head from her body, the discovery of Aspirea's remains and then yet another senseless killing.

What was the point of it all?

For a policy put in place to make people aware of the horrors of war the Capitol was doing a great job making sure the people of the Districts had no choice but to rebel. After all had it been a pure case of subjugation of the Districts' people they could have been kept calm, choosing to live their quiet little lives of desperation rather than think of how to get out of it.

Instead the war had been a constant reminder and to top it all off; every year twenty three of their adolescents had to be sacrificed in a bloody arena the Roman emperors could only have dreamed of.

As a response there were several Districts which specifically trained their young in the art of combat; a rebellion waiting to happen in and of itself. The Capitol, filled with spoiled, ignorant gluttons, ought to be counting their lucky stars that the people of these so-called Career Districts hadn't already made plans to turn on their masters.

If they did so then the pudgy, corrupted Capitol citizenry wouldn't stand a chance, nor would they be able to organize an army of enforcers large enough to stop the onslaught; it was too divided across Panem to be of much use in the first twenty four hours.

Pondering how the Capitol's policies could lead to anything but war Jaiden slowly went off to sleep. It was such a gradual process he didn't even really know when the day had ended and his slumber had begun.

Several hours later a soft melody floated in the air and reached his ears. It hung about him like a comfortable old blanket; the kind which should have been binned years ago but had too much sentimental value to take that final step.

Stretching and yawning Jaiden wondered where the sound was coming from. It didn't sound anything like what he had heard before the voice had started screaming at him, nor did it sound anything like the sponsor gift.

Instead it sounded like gently plucked strings on a well-tuned instrument.

Cracking an eye open Jaiden searched his immediate area for the source and had to blink a few times to make sure he wasn't imagining things.