The Arena: Ch. 9

Chapter 9: Nova vs Insania &nbsp
It felt good to sit in the bleachers again, peering down into The Arena as the dirt floor changed to an Olympic Temple. Giant marble pillars rose out of the ground, linking to a matching roof. Floating bronze braziers ringed the temple. At the very back of the worshipping hall, there was a giant statue of a life size Hades, Lord of the Underworld, holding a giant spear in his left hand and a golden helmet in the other.

The booming voice sounded, starting his count down from 20. As the countdown numbers grew smaller, I began to look up and down my body. My scars were white as snow, criss crossing my shoulders, arms, and legs.

"3!"

"2!"

"1!"

The battle horn sounded and out of the ground rose Nova- dressed in a lengthy, black, hooded robe- and a woman I'd never seen before. She was the creepiest sight to behold after getting blown out of an air base. This Insania chick was tall and slender, with perfect figure. Red eye shadow covered her eye lids with matching lip stick. Her hair was long and brown, but that wasn't the weirdest part. What creeped me out was the fact that she had two giant, black ram horns growing out of her forehead. They curled back down by her ears and resembled the fear that was also brought by her blood red robe.

Nova moved forward knocking an arrow in her epic bow and let it fly...

The arrow disentegrated before it had even gone two feet. I looked at Insania. Who was this woman? Nova hadn't explained to me her backstory...or maybe she didn't even have one.

Insania swept her robe to the side and raised her hands. A ball of green, crackling flames erupted in her left hand, a ball of black smoke in the other. She flicked her wrists and the balls of energy flew at Nova. Nova, knowing her arrows wouldn't do much against this strange, dark magic, dodged the fire which blew up a pillar behind her, and ducked under the black smoke which evaporated on contact with the ground.

"Well, you are very flexible," Insania hissed and I had to cover my ears. Her voice sounded like fingernails scrapping against chalk board. "Let's see if we can fix that," she laughed.

She raised her left hand, whispered a word I could tell was Ancient Greek, and Nova fell to the ground, clutching her skull. Nova began crying tears of blood, and her body began twitching and shaking on the ground.

I sat there in the bleachers, watching my girlfriend slowly die before my eyes, knowing that I wouldn't be able to do anything.

"See, you may have defeated that weak jester boy," Insania hissed. "But I am a goddess of the Underworld. I am Insania, goddess of Insanity and daughter of Hades and Hecate."

The crowd gasped and I screamed out. Nova's eyes widened. This was unfair! The gods had placed a goddess, an immortal being, in The Arena?! There was no way Nova could kill her!

I stood up and shouted, "This is unfair!"

Suddenley there was burst of blue light and my body went numb. A black robed gaurd appered infront of me and said, "The Arena officials would like you to shut the hell up...or die."

I stared down at The Arena, my eyes being the only things able to move. The black robed guard appeared down in The Arena. He ushered the two competitors in opposite directions and called loudly to the crowd, "There is no scam or cheat here! Insania is indeed the goddess of insanity, daughter of Hades and Hecate, but she has been cursed with mortality for defying the gods under her parents commands. If she is to win, her immortality will be cast upon her again. If she loses...well she will be dead, obviously."

I gave a sigh of relief at this. So Nova did have a chance of winning...

The Arena official left and the fight resumed. Before Insania could return to her mind mushing, Nova sprang up and kicked her in the head. Insania went flying into a pillar, snapping it straight in two.

Nova landed gracefully on her feet, wiped the blood out of her eyes, and knocked an arrow. The pointed stick flew at Insania and landed in her rib area. Oozing, slimy, black blood spurted out of the wound.

"How dare you wound me, mortal!" she hissed.

"Remember, you're a mortal too, you son of a-" Insania flung a green fire ball at Nova before she could finish the sentence.

Nova dropped her bow, thrusting her hands forward- something I'd never seen her do before. A flowing line of purple mist made contact with the green fireball, and a colorful explosion of prism light burst throughout The Arena.

I held my hand over my eyes, feeling suddenly returning to my body. Nova stood as the force of the light knocked Insania into the statue of her father, Hades. She rolled to the base of the statue with an, ''oomf! ''Nova knocked another arrow and began to approach the fallen goddess.

Insania pivoted on her knees, kneeling towards her father and praying for help. As if answering her prayers, Insania suddenley became a plume of fire. Her silohuett was still outlined in the burning, green fire as she sent sparks and darkness towards Nova. They darkness slammed into my girlfriend, sending her to her knees and clutching her head again.

Insania clenched her fist in Nova's direction. "I WILL NOT BE BESTED BY A MORTAL!"

Fighting the death and sudden urge to die, Nova looked up, eyes bleeding again. "Well I'm not you every day mortal..."

She thrust her hands forward and sent a ball of purple mist at Insania. The ball missed her point blank and Insania half laughed, half mocked.

"Foolish child you have no pow-" Blood dribbled from the ex-goddesse's mouth. She stared down at her stomach. The spear from the Hades statue was now lodged straight in her stomach, black blood spilling from the gash. In one second, Insania became limp. Her eyes faded to white and her body began to disentigrate.

Nova had sent the blast into the statue, knocking the spear into Insania! Wow...she sure was formal and battle smart. Nova stood, wiping the blood from her face once again. She strung her bow across her back and turned to the crowd. She blew a gentle kiss towards me, raised her hands in trumph and shouted, "I WIN!"

The crowd went wild, cheering Nova's name loudly for killing a goddess- even is she was a fallen one. "NO-VA! NO-VA! NO-VA!" They chanted the two syllables of her name.

I'm sure everyone in the city would remember that name, remember her as Nova Lylac, the Goddess Slayer...

Next Chapter: Chapter 10: Books and Bed Bugs