The Crimson Era

Chapter 11: The Beginning of a Genocide Pt. 2

A/N: Hey guys! I just wanted to thank all of you who have perservered through the first , rather rocky, chapters of this little story of mine. As the story gets longer and more detailed, I would absolutely love it if you would all help me out by pointing out mistakes (such as spelling, grammar, time gaps, etc.) so that I can address them. Suggestions for the  story are always welcome (though I can't guarantee that I'll use them). Now, without further ado, heres chapter 11 of The Crimson Era!

Reminding herself to stay calm and to keep out of her own head, Azriel concentrated on the opponent that was facing her across the arena. She tried to be fearless, but she just couldn't. She'd never thought she would have to make a decision like this; the decision to end another person's life.

Fighting with or injuring people was something she'd done as an act of self-preservation or anger, but she'd never killed anyone before, especially to save her own life. Taking someone else's life to keep her own was a disturbing thought that made her want to vomit.

With nothing else to get herself through this hell, she forced herself to get angry, and not just regular anger, but searing, hatred filled anger. Although Richard wasn't to blame, nor was anyone else here, she had to think about Cain. She had to think about her vendetta against him.

Cain was the man who had ordered for her youngest brother's life to be taken from him, but what was even worse, was the fact that he couldn't even do it himself. He was that much of a coward. Azriel's youngest brother had meant the world to her. Along with her four older brothers and herself, Azriel's mother had had to raise six children all on her own.

Azriel's father had died when she was 12 years old from an accidental alcohol overdose. Needless to say, he was an alcoholic who cared more about wine than he did about his own family. This was one of the main reasons that Azriel had been so close to her little brother. She couldn't even bare to think of his name.

Since her younger brother had been so innocent and pure he believed that he could fix anything; he was a complete and utter optimist. Naturally, when their father started drinking and later passed, he blamed himself. Since that day forward, Azriel had treated him like her own son: teaching him how to cook, do the dishes, garden, make his bed, tie his shoes, and countless other life skills. The day Cain had had him executed, he had picked his own, personal fight with Azriel; one that she wouldn't, and couldn't lose.

Thinking about the cruel and sadistic man that had started this agony, Azriel's blood began to boil. She closed her eyes, balled up her fist over the grip of her sword, clenched her teeth, and took one last, deep breath. Opening her eyes, she looked up once more to see Richard still standing on the opposite side of the arena, as still as a statue.

Without any warning, Azriel suddenly sprinted forward straight towards Richard, sword drawn. Freezing initially, Richard widened the space between his feet, moving to a low ready stance. When she finally reached her opponent across the large arena, she realized that she had no idea what types of weapons he possessed. Realizing this about her opponent, she figured that he didn't know what her weapons were either.

Reaching behind his back, Azriel figured that he was going to pull out a sword or bow, but instead of either of those, he pulled out a weapon that she'd only seen one time before: a pair of karambits. Unlike Laurel's they were shinier and looked as though they were made of steal. Seeing them was a bit of an adrenaline trigger since Laurel had informed her that the most common use for them she knew of was for gutting a person without even trying.

Putting his thumbs through the eye of each knife at the end of the handles, he pulled the knives up in front of his face at different levels. Startled by this action, Azriel came to a sliding stop, resulting in her landing on her backside and dropping her sword that was almost immediately followed by a chorus of laughter from the crowd.

Not giving them even a millisecond of her attention, Azriel had to think quick, now having the disadvantage. As Richard made an advance towards her, Azriel took her right leg and swept his legs out from under him. Losing his previously upright stance, he was still able to keep hold of both karambits on the way to the ground. Needless to say, the crowd had mixed reactions. Some vocalizing their enjoyment of the battle such as Cain and his friends, and others expressing their dismay such as the other people trapped in this prison.

Taking the chance to regain the higher ground, Azriel scrambled to her feet, but quickly hit the ground again as Richard grabbed her right ankle. Momentarily winded from the impact, Richard quickly crawled forward and straddled Azriel's hips, attempting to put her in the mount, but was too slow. Remembering that she was still wearing her brass knuckles, she quickly changed the tables on her opponent. Landing a quick right jab to Richard's sternum, he now lay on the ground next to Azriel, gasping for air as well.

Standing up as fast as she could, Azriel grabbed her sword and sheathed it once more. Now recovering from her jab, Richard regained his stance, still grasping his karambits. Twirling them a few times, he began to advance towards Azriel as she put her hands up in front of her face as a guard. Aiming a right roundhouse kick at her arms she lost her guard and her stance from the impact of his leg against her arms. Taking his right karambit, he leaned forward and used the curved blade to attempt to hit her eye and blind her, but missed. Azriel could feel the cool steel blade put a four inch gash into her cheekbone just below her left eye.

Richard once again brought his right leg up and delivered a swift kick to Azriel's gut. This time only partly winded, she allowed herself to look as pain stricken as possible as she voluntarily hit the sand. At first she didn't think that he would take the bait, but she was wrong.

Quickly running forward, Richard looked ready to plunge both of his curved blades into Azriel, but at the last moment she was able to roll back onto her shoulders, tucked her knees up to her chest, and using both legs, flipped Richard over her head and back onto the sandy floor of the arena. Seeing the possibility to end the gruesome duel, Azriel walked over to Richard.

Standing over his ribs, she unsheathed her sword once more. Taking it in both hands, one on top of the other, she turned around to see Cain still staring at her. He slowly raised his arm with his hand in a thumbs up sign, but he just as slowly began to tilt his hand fully into a thumbs down symbol, the most universal way of being told to end someone's life.

Looking back at Richard, his eyes were pleading for Azriel to just finish the job. Slowly nodding her head, she raised her sword and brought it down in one swift motion, sinking it into his chest, straight into his heart. Azriel could tell that he was far gone and her job was already done. Pulling her sword back out of her now dead opponent, she sheathed it for the final time and turned around to face Cain. Azriel then sat down in the middle if the arena in defeat, and hid her face from the rest of the world, never wanting them to be able to see her again.