Chains and marigolds,

Lies that run so deep, 

yet your mask of purple hyacinths stays hidden

Welcome to Tartarus.

A one stop shop of screams and blood- the only colours within this hellscape are the fluid spilt from the creatures sent here, painting the rocky floors and cliff side walls red, blue, black, green and orange.

No police, no control, Beings are as feral as the Beasts here.

No one cares of the screams that ring out at night, no one minds the floor they walk on is caked in gore within this living hell, and as Jewel puts it, its bitch or be bitched.

And she was very, very good at bitching.

The crowd roared nearly as loud as Jewel’s opponent, a large brawly creature that looked like a horrific fusion of a Hellhound and a Drakon. Its maw had too many teeth, with a leather like snout and four hooked horns and large wolfish ears that were pinned to its skull. Its lips kept pulling up to bare it’s blackened gums and yellow stained teeth, pacing back and forth on four scaled legs with wicked talons.

The long fur lining it’s spine prickled up aggressively, lined with almost porcupine spines, which tapped and clicked against each other as it stalked, its long scaly tail lashing behind it. It screeched, and you could be a complete idiot and be tripping balls and still tell that this creature was furious. Jewel grinned a quick bare of her teeth, revealing the sharpened nature of them, her short thick tail lashing as a cocky mimic.

The hybrid lashed out a talon, swiping it over Jewel’s head. She ducked, immediately curling in and spinning, her tail lashing out and slapping the hybrid across the face hard enough it staggered back. Jewel dug her talons into the dirt of the arena floor, and kicked it up carelessly into the hybrid’s eyes, before completing her spin to ram her head into it’s side. The hybrid stumbled back, making short shrieks of agony as it pawed at it’s eyes; trying to blink out the dirt.  

Above, a couple of Beings laughed. Jewel ignored them, shaking out her head, her wings ruffling gently against her sides. She started towards her victim, eyes that withheld all the colours glimmering dangerously in the light cast by fire ringing the arena.

Welcome to Tartarus.

Where no one is safe, where no one can be trusted.

All for their own, simply put.

A place where kids are sold by their parents, where death is a mundane concept, where there are more jobs fighting in arenas than selling food, where if you are relevant, even slightly, there will always be some there to replace you.

Where some Being’s survive chaos and that is how they grow,

And there is other Being’s whom thrive within this chaos,

because chaos is all they’ve ever known.

Jewel has only even known chaos. Only even known bloodshed.

Could you really blame her though? She never got the chance to pick her own cards. She simply wanted cash, wanted food, wanted the comforting thought that her bed will remain hers, for tonight.

The Beast lashed its head back, and icy cold air clawed up Jewel’s throat, forming a light fog that seeped from her maw, and a searing light in the back of her mouth. Her palette clicked, and a beacon of light exploded from Jewel’s mouth, striking the hybrid dead in the chest. She started moving forward more, her plasma beam preventing the hybrid from lunging at her. The hybrid shrieked and howled as the beacon burned away at it’s skin, fur and scales, its flesh sizzling and muscles burning and shrivelling up. It tried to get away, but Jewel simply turned her head, the beacon following after it as it shook and shrieked, clawing at it’s own snout and face, trying to hide.

Snapping her jaw shut, Jewel spun again, her tail slamming into the side of the creature, knocking it down to the floor. Dust was sent up in puffs of too-dry-air as the creature collided with the floor with a heavy thud and Jewel jumped it, pinning it down where it laid.

Laid in it’s grave, for sure.

“KILL IT!” Shrieked a multiple of Being’s, their off-time yelling making the words overlap in Jewel’s head.

“Tear it’s teeth out!”

“Slit its throat!”

The Hybrid whimpered in her talons, it’s eyes wide and terrified. It couldn’t escape with Jewel’s full Drakonic body weight on it, a talon pressing it’s muzzle into the dirt.

Jewel knew that the creature knew its fate ended here.

And she hated that.

“KILL IT ALREADY!” Roared someone above her head.

“I’m sorry,” Jewel whispered to the creature in Drakon.

The blood tasted bitter. Jewel tried not to gag on the taste, gripping the Hybrids neck in her block-ish jaw, and bit down further, the crushing force snapping the bones. The hybrid spluttered, blood spraying from it’s mouth, before it went limp, unmoving.

Jewel tugged and ripped her head back dramatically, this was still a show, keep in mind, and spat out the large chuck of flesh she’d torn out. Acid green blood clung to her scales, dripping from her maw as she tilted her head back to the crowd. Shifting her posture to something appearing cocky, confident, Jewel flared her pink patterned wings and bellowed out a ringing roar of succession.

Her eyes stung when she lowered her head with a guttered growling huff, turning away from the cooling corpse with eyes that were slowly turning milky and cloudy. She pretended that she didn’t notice the hunk of flesh she’d ripped out was spluttering with a meek, weak, dying light, or how the fluid that leaked from it had too much blood to be a set of normal arteries.

Dead.

There was no coming back from that.

It’s a Beast, an animal, seriously, it could have been way worse. Jewel grumbled to herself. Get over it, this is literally your job.

But she couldn’t quite shake the image of the hybrid’s eyes, wide with terror and miserable acceptance.

Her body ruffled, scales prickling, bones cracking into humane alignment, and Jewel arched her wings, letting the swift transformation wash over her, her bare feet sinking into the soft blood-stained sand. At least, within her mundane form, the scent of death was lesser.

Her hair, locks and waves of gold, spun like silk to frame her face and she tilted her head up a bit, settling into her last act of the night. Almost there. A little longer, then I can eat and sleep. A large gracious grin stretched her face, and Jewel coyly looked up through her hair at the crowd. She was wearing the common fighter’s uniform, a hideous combination of brown and orange that clashed against her milk-pale skin and vibrant blue tail, but she all but dared to complain about it.

She was slightly dipped forward, and so she flicked out her hands and stood up straight, letting all that betted against her see whom they’d lost their money to. A couple of the men in the stands wolf whistled at her, and she tilted her head innocently, giving them a sweet smile that showed her blood-stained teeth.

Jewel was beautiful, for a Hell Walker- a creature born within the pits of Tartarus. Sure, her long smooth hair, fine features and hourglass figure certainly helped, but most men and women and all in-between came after her mainly for one, singular reason.

Jewel had colour.

Her scales were stunningly smooth, a bright clear blue that some believed that the sky itself had melted upon her. Her skin was fair, like snow, or even like white ash; the beauty some find within the aftermath of destruction, her hair was bright and lively and gold of all colours, that shimmered in the light of the magma and fire.

And then there were her eyes. Red, orange, and yellow within the right, green, blue and purple in the left. All the colours to ever exist, she was a walking combination of beauty and life within this hell hole of musty blacks and shades of brown.

Some called her sapphire, others crystal. Her boss called her ‘his golden dagger’. That’s why she was so popular, as well as skill and attitude. And at 18 years of age, many sought after her with her being at her ‘peak’ of beauty.

Her boss probably bided thousands to get his filthy long fingers on her. He probably still spent thousands to ensure she stayed beautiful too, Jewel sourly bemused, ensuring to keep the perfect image of her smile despite her wish to scowl. She was honestly lucky either way, as if her boss hadn't gotten her, her life would have been very different.

She knew for the number of Beings she had to deal with, coming after her and dribbling horrifying rubbish of what they’d do to her if they had her. It was even more horrifying to Jewel that they thought she’d like that.

“ALRIGHT!” Came the booming voice from the speakers, which originated from one of Jewel colleges, a flirtatious Mixcher that Jewel had a habit of hitting a lot. “And with that BRUTAL finale, that concludes the end of tonight’s show! Can I PLEASE get a howler for the one, the only, Jewel the Glatic Plasma Drakon!”

Jewel inwardly cringed. She hated it when he said that, and he knew it. Knocked from her thoughts, Jewel flamboyantly raised her hands to the roof of Tartarus, her grin slotting back into place easily. She twirled, so everyone could see her, tail gently swaying behind her. “Thank you! Thank you, really, it has been a pleasure fighting for you all tonight!” Jewel lied easily; her voice as sweet as she could will it to be.

“And as always, I hope I’ll see you all, in the next game!” she called, and wondered faintly, if anyone here noticed that these lines were the same lines she’d always said?

Tilting her head back, a small bullet of her plasma beam blessed the air, to which during the bright flash, she hurried over to the now open bar doors of the arena. It closed behind her with a clang, and Jewel sighed, relieved it was over.

She leaned against the wall, her tail curling around her ankles in a self-soothing, calming manner, which didn’t match the way her shoulders trembled.

The blood still tasted bitter.

She couldn’t bring herself to swallow, and fumbled to reach for her stuff, waiting patiently for her on the bench. Her sack and bottle.

She took a small sip of the water, swishing it around her mouth as she opened the sack, pulling out the two items, wipes, and a hand mirror. Jewel spat out the water to the side, sighing soft at the relief, and started to wipe the blood off her face. Once she was finally cleaned up, she put away the mirror and wipes, tucking them back into their hidey hole, before taking a proper drink of her bottle, leaving the barren room through a rock door on the other end.

“Nice show crystal!” Yelled the Mixture from the balcony above, and when Jewel looked up at him, he winked. Ugh. Jewel rolled her eyes and kept going.

“Nice kill, see you're already clean? I can make you dirty again if you wish-”

“Not interested.” Jewel snipped.

“Went for the Life-Force huh? Bet you adore killing things for no reason, someone should leash you-”

Jewel sped up, ignoring the crowd of aimless slurs and words, and faces she never bothered to put names to. She bumped into a familiar structure, and Lynx, a Harpy and Jewel’s fighting rival, hissed at her, baring their teeth. “Move it, vráchos,” they spat, and shoved past.

Jewel bristled, but locked her jaw, keeping her mouth shut.

Finally, out of the crowd's reach, Jewel’s footsteps were the only sound to comfort her on her quiet, quick walk to her room. Stewing in annoyance and guilt, she slammed her door behind her as she slid onto the floor. Shakily inhaling, Jewel tucked her knees to her chest.

On the floor, in front of her, was a single envelope. With another sigh, Jewel plucked it up, and tore it open with relative ease. It was filled with cash, and Jewel relaxed a little, remembering that it was her pay day. She hummed as she thumbed through the notes, smiling at the lealletes that her hard work had paid for. The last note she found wasn't even a leallete, but rather an actual note.

Jewel frowned, and softly read it.

If you’re willing, I know easier ways for you to earn cash, my golden dagger. You might even get more than just lealletes.

-       You know who.

Jewel scoffed, crumpled up the note and threw it across the room.

Yer, right. Like she was interested in that.

Well. At least she could rely on the money she got.