Lothemadel was quickly being surronded by the hordes of undead. The stench of rotting flesh was overwhelming, making him gag. The moon gryhphon next to him was becoming wounded. It was slowing down, and in a flash, the summoned creature vanished. The bodies of the already deafeated zombies were piling, but the seemingly infinite horde kept coming. Lothemadel clicked his staff on the ground and brilliant shaft of light sprung forth. The pale light burned fiercly. Lothemadel shined it at the ghouls. After about thirty seconds of exposure, the zombie would fall. Lothemadel repeated this slowly, but it was his only option, light and dodge, light and dodge.

Ethari was in the stands. Normally he wouldn't be at this kind of fight, but Lothemedal was here. He was in the arena surronded by zombies, shining his light at the ghouls as they withered away from the sight of the brilliant ray. He stood on his feet and cheered like a madman. That was his best friend out there, winning.

Ethari ran down the stone steps to the entrance of the arena. His white hood was pulled over his eyes and angelic wings were covered underneath his cape. He was always paranoid of being hunted down for his angelic blood, even though that rarely happened any more. He still took the precautions and always worried about people seeing him.

He waited outside the stone archway and waited for the old man to leave from his successful victory from the battle. He couldn't wait for him to go outside and he could congratulate him on a well earned victory. They would eat like kings. His dove Cataraza was out flying in the sky above the city. He let her have some breaks, instead of waiting by him all the time.

After waiting about a while he walked to the wall and leaned his back against it. He looked in the sky expectantly for the stars. To his misfortune it was about noon, and the only star in sight was the extremely bright sun. He winced and returned to his normal stance ignoring the stare every now and then.

A small white image caught the corner of his eye. It was his dove Cataraza. He didn't change his position as she landed lightly on his shoulder. A few seconds later she began to nip his ear playfully.

" All right, you little oaf" Ethari said playfully and began to gently stroke the back of her head as she hummed with the extra attention he was giving her. Even more people stared at him now that a dove was perched on his shoulder. He ignored them and waited patiently.

Lothemadel hadnt noticed Etheri in the stands. He walked over to the stone archway leading outside the dirt arena. "Etheri, good to see you!" He said warmly, outstreching his hand. The angel had his hood down and cloak covering his magnificent wings, unlike Lothemadel who had his spread wide out. "You know Etheri, you look like a hunch back with your wings underneath your cloak like that. Your tainting the Xilophent name, and not to metion leaving a terrible impression as warrior in general."

He gazed up at the sun in the sky and noticed Catarza gliding in the sky and landing on the shoulder of the paranoid angel. "I mean, why hide your true heritage? Does it look like I hide my half angel, half human heritage? No, I embrace it like you should, you buffoon!" Lothemadel said with a smile, patting him on the shoulder.

Ethari let out a big sigh. Why was Lothemdel interrogating him? He knew about his parents and how they died. Now why was he giving him a hard time about his angel heritage. He turned to face Lothemdal, his blue eyes barely visible from beneath his cloak. " You know what happened Lothemadal, don't pretend it never happened" He made his last words sting. He wished Lothemadal never had brought it up. Now he made Ethari angry and upset. He was stirring up the dust of his past.

But now he had that out of the way. He made a big, friendly smile and exclaimed " Now that's behind us, how've you been." He smiled and embraced the old man and added " you haven't lost a step have you." Lothemadal was almost like the father he never had. They always were great friends and constantly teased each other. Lothemdal always called him dumb or stupid, because his skill with a sword, and he always called him old man.

" Great, now that introductions are out of the way, lets cut to the chase." Ethari's earlier smile had dissipated into a serious face. " We have little money that is not already dedicated to our guild in progress. We probably won't have enough for a room at the inn and dinner. We'll have to do a battle in the arena to earn enough." By the end of this sentence Ethari had a cold look to his face. He normally didn't care if he killed a evil creature. But now he could be killing a grown man with a wife, or kids. And he would kill him by his sword.

Ethari added " But I refuse to enter man on man combat, we should have a double, me and you, against a monster, like a worg or something." Ethari smile returned faintly, hoping that he would not be forced to kill a innocent man, but a bloodthirsty creature.

Lothemadel began to laugh, head lowered. He raised his head, a bloodlust in his eyes. "Why not a man? Wouldn't he be asking to die?" Lothemadel began to chuckle. Not an evil, sinister cackle, but a warm giggle. "Ha ha ha! You fell for it! Do you think that I, Lothemadel, could ever kill and inocent man? What do you wish to fight? I think we should be up against something large, that would take every ounce of energy from the two of us. How 'bout two trolls, that should be good enough, and cover the costs of a stay at the inn?"

Ethari made a nod of approval. His face was bright from Lothmadel's joke. Lothemadel always knew how to lighten some one's mood from sad to happy. Ethari exclaimed "great, I'll sign us up now." With that Ethari ran to the signing area. He passed between the columns that led to the fighters training and sleeping quarters. He passed several odd figures, a man in all black, a half ogre with a club the size of Ethari, and monsters locked inside a different variety of cages. These must be the creatures they could chose to fight.

" Excuse me, but is there something I could help you with." Ethari pivoted on his foot to face a old man that was bald, wore a eye patch, had a long scar running down his face, and wore plain villager clothing. Ethari looked at the man a said " oh I'm sorry, is this were I sign up for a fight." The man smacked his hand on his head, and then glared at Ethari. " Of course it is you monkey, you need to fill out this form." The man picked up a clip board and threw it lightly at Ethari. Ethari caught it and said in a rude manner " do you have a quill?" The man bent over the desk and picked up a inkwell with a small quill and slid it across the desk.

Ethari picked up the quill and began to fill out the form. The first slot asked for his name. Slowly he wrote out Ethari Xilophent . Next it called for what he wished to be called in the arena. He slowly wrote out Night Master . Then it asked for age, race, weapon and what he wished to fight. He filled out 112 , archangel , longsword , bow , and two trolls . On the last slot it said if you wish to have one or more combatant compete with you, have them fill out the form. After that consult the battle master. Ethari waved for Lothemadel to come over.

Lothemadel glanced over to his left, and then imediatly noticed Ethari beckoning to him. 'I guess I am being summoned!' Lothemadel thought to himself. He walked past the trainees and different monsters, and came past the medical ward. The stench of blood recked past their, and horrible shriek rang in the air.

Lothemadel walked quickly past thier, blood was his weakness. That is why he perfered more of blunt weapons, rather than swords. With a slashing or piercing weapon, blood was guarenteed, but staves could just cudgel your opponent to death. As Lothemadel reached his fighting companion , he asked "What is it you need?"

The grizzled old man sighed and began, "You need to fill out an application, and I will set up your fight. If magic is your specialty, you'll need to fill out additional form, attached to the back." The man slide an exta ink well and quill, along with a clipboard with several papers attached. Lothemadel sat down, and dipped the quill.

The first sheet was labeled, 'General Warrior Information'. Its catigories each were followed by a line. The catorgories were name, arena name, age, weapon, race, and desired combatant. Lothemadel filled Lothemadel, Daymaster, 53, staff, half angel, two trolls. Lothemadel flipped up the second page labeled 'Magic Information'. Lothemadel read the catorgories: Spells owned, magic type, rank, and more micallanious information. He filled out as followed: Summon lesser monster and shadow, summon monster, light and shooting star, summoning and cosmos,and medicore.

Lothemadel couldn't wait to fight with Ethari! He never had the chance to actually engage in life threating combat situation, all others had been somewhat easy and very uncomplicated. But now he was eager for a very a fight, difficult, difficult fight. "Lets start!" Lothemadel said, jumping up with a large grin.

Ethari made a quick sidewards glance at Lothemedal. Could they survive against two trolls? He had never faced a troll before, only heard stories and rumors. One of the stories involved a man fighting a troll when the troll picked up a tree from the ground and used it to mercilessly bash him into a bloody pulp. Ethari turned to the man and asked " what sort of environment will we be fighting in?" The old man let out a exhausted sigh and said in a grumble " were you always fight, it doesn't change unless otherwise noted."

Ethari let out a sigh. If it was a forest the trolls could possibly use the trees to horribly beat him. The battle consular said " continue up these stairs" he said gesturing to a bloody flight of stairs and continued " and enter the arena." Ethari turned to Lothemedal and burst out " lets do this!" With that he glided to the stairway. He made his first step up the stairs. There was blood splattered on the walls as if people coming down the stairs were wounded severely.

Ethari finally reached the top of the stairs. On the doorknob the was a fresh hand print of blood. It dripped off the doorknob and fell down to the bloody stone ground below. Ethari turned away from the sight and quickly reached for the doorknob, ignoring the cold blood running in between his hand.

Ethari was outside. There was a tall iron grate in front of him, blocking him from escape. A man with a loud booming voice could be heard. The huge crowd quieted down. " Over here in this pen is two blood thirsty trolls, yes that's right, the trolls you have been taught to fear and hate. But over here we have a archangel and half angel thinking they can beat them. First we have the Night Master!" The gate opened, he had to get the crowds appeal. He flew out of the pen and began to spiral to the center of the arena. Then he began to circle around in the air and raised his sword that let out a bright glow. Ethari had secretly cast light on it, but his spectators didn't need to know that. " And the Day Master!"