I opened my eyes, something was off.  It’s felt like years since I had been placed on this ship, but in all reality, it had been only a couple of weeks.  Yet those weeks had dragged on when the only thing I could do was sit in my cot and relive the events that brought me here.  But now something was different, it felt like the ship was more lively than usual.  I didn’t know what, but something was happening. 

“Urrggh” I groaned as I sat up.  I took a quick look around and found that nothing had changed in my immediate surroundings.  In my small cell there was a cot to sleep in, a bucket to relieve myself in, and of course the chain that kept me bound in this small cell.  After making sure nothing had changed in my cell, I stood and walked to the cell door.

Peering out of my cell looking across a walkway I saw another row of cells nearly identical to mine.  Some were empty, while others housed guests that looked just as happy to be in their cells as I was.  Looking down the walkway I saw a guard sitting on a stool by the stairs leading up. I decided to call out to him.

“Sir” I called out.  “What’s happening up there?” I asked, referring to the upper floors of the ship that I was now able to hear an abundance of movement coming from.  The guard looked at me, seemed to think about something for a bit, then just sighed and looked away.  It would seem that I wouldn’t be getting any answers from him.

I stepped back towards my cot, then decided to step up onto my cot.  I heard it groan uncomfortably under my weight, but I choose to ignore that and tilted my head to try and hear what was happening above me.  I heard a lot of scuffling around above me and thought that I heard someone say something about docks, but I wasn’t sure.  I decided to stand on my tip toes to try and hear better, but then the jolted slightly as it came to a stop.

“Damn” I said audibly as my cot gave out from the combination of my weight and the jolt, I felt myself fall backwards towards the ground.  I landed with a rather hearty *thud* and let out a pained groan.  As was laying on the ground trying to figure out whether or not I was as smart as I thought I was, I heard the guard say in a bewildered voice, “What are you doing?”  It would seem my graceful landing had managed to attract his attention. 

Looking towards my cell door I saw the guard standing in the walkway looking at me.  “Oh, you know, admiring the softness of the ground.” I responded sarcastically “What do you make these ships out of? Clouds?” I asked.  The guard simply grunted in annoyance as he looked back down the walkway towards the stairs.  “On your feet prisoner” he said as he stood up a bit straighter than he was already.

His sudden switch to a serious tone let me know that I should probably act accordingly.  I stood up ignoring the slight pain that I felt in my back and faced my cell door.  Now that I could see the guard more clearly, I noticed that he had horns growing out of his head as well as bronze colored skin.  Demon race I thought to myself.  As I did so I heard footsteps approaching my cell and decided to glance at the new arrival.

She too was a member of the demon race.  Including the horns growing out of the top of her head she only stood at about chest level compared to me.  She was wearing a worn leather outfit and had a large captain’s hat resting on her auburn hair that I figured likely meant she was in charge on this ship.  She acknowledged the guard as she stopped in front of my cell and started looking me over.  Her gaze stopped for a moment as we made eye contact and I noticed her eyes were two separate colors, her left was red, and her right was black. 

“Open the cell” she commanded the guard who promptly did as he was instructed.  “Yes captain” he responded.  She stepped in the cell and clicked her tongue as she took notice of the collapsed cot that was behind me.  Stopping just before me she pulled out what appeared to be a collar.

“I’ve come bearing a gift for the prince” she said as she smiled wickedly and held out the collar to me.  “What is it?” I asked. “A wonderful new necklace,” she responded sarcastically “now put it on.”  I took a glance at the collar and then at the guard who looked ready to rip me to shreds if I made even a slightly wrong move before sighing as I took the collar.  “What a generous gift” I said as I put it around my neck. I was about to say something else, but the words got caught in my throat as the collar suddenly tightened around my neck.

I fell to a knee and grabbed at the collar as I felt an intense burning sensation run throughout my body.  I tried to gasp in pain, but my eyes widened in shock as I realized that I couldn’t breathe.  I heard the captain chuckle to herself as the pain started to let up.  Trying to gasp for breath a second time I was relieved to fell the air rush into my lungs.

I looked up at the captain and noticed she was holding a small stone in her hand, which I assumed somehow controlled the collar on my neck.  She was also wearing a sly smile “I’m glad you like my gift, as it will likely be the last one you receive for a while” she said in a cheerful tone.  “Now follow me” she said as she turned and headed out of my cell.

Deciding that I would rather not go through that experience again, and not knowing how thin her patience was, I choose to promptly follow her directions.  As we walked up the stairs reaching the next level of the ship I noticed several members of the crew, most of who were demons, carrying barrels up to the deck of the ship.  The other members of the crew moved aside as the captain walked through the hull and up the stairs headed to the deck.  I made sure to stick close behind her as to not have her use the collar on me again.

My eyes squinted and I brought my hands up to cover the sun as I experienced daylight for the first time in weeks as we walked out onto the deck.  As my eyes adapted to the light and my vision cleared, I lowered my hands and couldn’t hide my surprise as I saw the view in front of me.

The ship was stopped at what was the largest set of docks I’d ever seen.  They appeared to sprawl out like massive tree roots across the water.  I saw hundreds of ships docked and what seemed to be thousands of people bustling about on the dock.  There were even a bunch of stalls lined out on the docks with merchants yelling out to passerby’s as they went about their business.  All in all, it seemed like total chaos to me.  Even the docks at Crown City, the capital of Reis, had only been a tenth the size of these.  Looking past the docks I saw a medium sized city that when compared to the impressive docks was rather underwhelming.  It seemed to be just a large collection of warehouses and small buildings, plus it was surrounded by a desert on both sides.

“Welcome to Sapphire City,” the captain said in a rather bored voice “the Northern Jewel.”  I recognized the name.  Sapphire City was one of the four ‘Jewels’ of the Demon Continent.  From what I had read, it was also the largest port in the world.

“Follow me,” the captain said as she held up the small stone “and make sure to stay close, I’d hate to have to use this” she finished with a smile indicating that she would love nothing more than to use the stone again.  Looking out at the chaos in front of me, I decided it would be a good idea to not wander off from the captain.

We walked onto the dock and began making our way through the crowds of people.  As we continued walking, I noticed there weren’t any signs or obvious indications of our location on the docks.  I couldn’t help but comment “It’s a wonder no one gets lost here.” “Some idiots do,” the captain responded, “but most sailors that come here are either locals or have been sailing long enough to know their way around.”  She finished her statement as we continued walking through the docks. 

“What about you,” I asked, “Are you a local, or have you been doing this for a while?”  She paused for a second and glanced back at me.  “You talk too much,” she said and started up walking forward again, “don’t ask me anything else.”  I glanced at the stone in her hand and figured it would be best to keep my mouth shut for a while.

We spent the next several minutes in silence as we walked through the docks.  I took the time to observe and admire the beauty of this chaotic scene that was surrounding me.  After about a half-hour we finally made our way off of the docks and headed into the city.

It was larger than I had initially thought from the docks, but aside from the warehouses that were scattered about everywhere, most of the buildings were small and for the most part made of wood.  All in all, the city seemed on par with the slums of Crown City back in Reis.  We continued walking through the city for another fifteen minutes before we came to a stop in front of a building with a large carriage out in front of it.

The building itself didn’t appear all that impressive, but when I considered the horse stalls outside of it, I assumed it was an inn of some sort.  My assumptions were proven correct as we stepped inside.  I was greeted by the smell of food and the picture of several tables filled with what appeared to be guards of some sort eating.  I followed the captain to the center most table where another member of the demon race was seated.  He had a bit of a beer belly on him, but he was wearing fine looking robes that made me think he had some measure of wealth to him.

He was in the process of eating when he noticed the captains approach.  He smiled and stood up when he saw us “Captain Nautia, how good to see you, please take a seat” he said as he gestured to an empty seat at the table he was sitting at.  “No thank you Lord Studer,” the captain, who I’ve now learned is named Nautia responded “I’ve several other things I have to do after I finish delivering you the merchandise.” She finished her statement as she stepped aside and gestured towards me.

The man called Lord Studer looked away from Nautia and began to study me with his beady black eyes.  I took notice that he had shoulder length white hair, and a small white beard on his face.  After he finished studying me, he turned back to look at Nautia.

“He looks quite fat for a white core,” he said, “are you sure you haven’t been deceived?” He finished. “There is an easy way to find out” Nautia responded as she turned to me.  “Use some magic, but nothing too flashy” she said waving the stone in her hand around.

I sighed as I looked around most of the guards in the room had stopped eating and were now watching our interaction with the lord.  I pointed my open palm towards the far wall of the room and channeled mana from my core down my arm and into my palm, a whooshing noise went through the room as a small blade of wind shot forth from my palm.  It cut through the air and crashed into the far wall leaving a small scar in the wood.  The effort of using that mana caused my heart to start to race, as well as sweat appeared on my forehead.

“Well,” Lord Studer said “that proves he’s silver stage at the very least.”  He looked at me again and said, “Summon your spark.”  My spark. I thought to myself.  A spark was a weapon that everyone who had reached a silver stage core could summon.  These weapons were nearly indestructible and were unique to each individual that summoned them.  Unfortunately, they required quite a bit of mana to summon, about half the total mana that a silver stage core had, which was more mana than I could muster in my current state.

“I can’t,” I responded, “I’m a bit too out of shape to summon it.”  This got a chuckle out of Lord Studer “A white core that can’t summon a spark, you nobility types are more disappointing than I had heard” he stated. That got a laugh out of several of the guards in the room.  “Very well, I believe he’s a white core” Lord Studer said “there is no way a silver stage that out of shape could fire off any magic.”

“Then I believe we can conclude this deal” Nautia said as she looked towards Lord Studer.  He reached his hand under a stool at the table and pulled out a sack of coins.  “The agreed upon payment” he said as he threw the bag to Nautia.  After examining the contents of the bag Nautia threw the stone that controlled my collar to Lord Studer.  “It was a pleasure doing business with you” she said as she turned and headed out of the inn. 

Lord Studer examined the stone for a bit before he looked at me and gestured to the table “Go ahead and get some food, you’ll need it for the days to come” he said as he sat back down.  I sat down at the table and looked at Lord Studer “What exactly am I going to be doing in the days to come” I asked.  He looked back at me with a grin on his face “You’ll be making me money” he said with a slight glint in his eyes.

“By doing what” I asked again this time with some apprehension in my voice.

He responded with a slightly sinister tone, "by fighting in the arena, slave."