Capítulo 8: Disciplinary action
Even though it was ever-dark, Esmeray's eyes were accustomed to constant darkness. Her ability to see in the dark was due to her almost-shiny orange irises. She could see the outlines of objects perfectly, adding to that, she was blessed with unnatural spatial awareness.
"Hup! HEHF! IYAH!" Esmeray grunted due to the physical burden she faced while swinging the Katana. If the fight she was thrown into a few minutes ago hadn't made her sweat, the training inside her cell was bound to.
Hearing strange noises coming from another cell, the other gladiators - who had finally calmed down - asked what was going on.
"Who is making that noise?" Tengen asked.
"I can hear the air splitting..." Suen realized. "Someone is swinging their sword!"
Hearing that, the gladiators realized that they were free to move around their dark cells. And so, one by one, the gladiators started to train.
Hours later, when most gladiators slept, there were only 2 people that were still awake.
Washing her body was quite noisy, and the sounds that reached Tengen Uzuki's ear told him that it wasn't caused by someone accidently knocking over their bucket.
"Someone's is still awake..." Tengen spoke out loud for the other person to hear.
"So?" The other person answered.
"Who are you? Were you from Hilda's or Suen's group?" Tengen asked in order to be able to link the girl's voice to a face he saw.
"I was in neither." The girl responded.
"You weren't in mine... Oh..." Tengen realized that it was Esmeray he talked with, and immediately, the fear that scarred his soul a few hours ago was brought back full force.
Esmeray was smart, but even she didn't think about the possibility that Tengen would feel scared of her even though he was in another cell. So, what Esmeray did was ask Tengen a question back.
"You must be Tengen, right? You said 'my group'."
"Yes?" Tengen asked, less scared this time.
"I saw you fight. We have the same kind of sword, but your proficiency is much higher than mine. Any reason for that? Were you taught in the art of the sword?"
"No. My family wasn't allowed to wield swords."
"Are you lying to me? How can you be that good?" Esmeray pressed.
Tengen did not dare to lie. He feared that he would "face" Esmeray's blade next if he lied. "No! I swear, before today, I never touched a Katana."
Both stopped talking because of the silence that followed Tengen's response. After Esmeray was done cleaning herself, she walked towards the bars of her cell.
"Are you aware that we may never be able to leave this place?" Esmeray asked.
"I don't know... I miss home."
"You don't want to die, right?"
"Yes."
***
The next morning, all the the new roster's gladiators were taken away for disciplining. All of them were brought into a shining, white room. A series of chairs were placed next to each other. The chairs' armrests also featured Seastone cuffs that would strap the gladiators to it.
The light inside the room was focused to one point, the front of the chairs. There, a man stood in a white scrub. His hair was white and his eyes' irises pitch-black. "Strap them." The man ordered the handymen that were responsible for transporting the gladiators. After the gladiators were strapped to the chairs, the man in white introduced himself. "The name is Gustav, dear gladiators. Although it's a unusual, it turns out that some of you have scored some points." He said and winked at Esmeray. "Today will be your first disciplinary day. Many more will await you as long as you are a gladiators. And without further ado, let's start!"
One might already imagine what the gladiators are facing. But before you are let in on the pain they face, let's talk more about the points system that decides the severity of the discipline. 0 pointers are the gladiators that did not get points, or had their points reduced because they broke some rules - points in the negative are instantly punished with death. 0 pointers' punishment is as follows: Their price on the free market is reduced by a huge amount, they are both punished physically, mentally and one piece of equipment is taken away. 1 to 3 points is physical and mental punishment. 4 to 8 points are purely physical. 9 to 12 are only mental. And 13 to 15 pointers are not punished, 15 pointers are even granted one wish.
Looking at a list, Gustav read its contents out loud. "At hand, we have fifteen 0 pointers, two 3 pointers, one 4 pointer and one 9 pointer. 0 pointers will not have to face the whole punishment just yet, but it will be more severe..." Gustav paused and picked up a white towel. "Let's start this business. Hopefully, you will learn to understand the severity and the value points have in your eyes."
Approaching Esmeray first, he gently put a towel on her face after he reached her seat. "Should've gotten one more kill, then you wouldn't have had to suffer..." Gustav stated and kicked Esmeray's chair backwards.
Mind you, these gladiators are still kids, but Gustav the Sadist loved doing his job. After falling backwards and hitting her head, Esmeray struggled to not yell out in pain or lose consciousness. She feared the consequences after losing consciousness. And with a towel now on her face, she wondered what her punishment was going to be - the concept of severity by points still unknown to her.
"This, my dear bet-winner, is called waterboarding. You will feel what it does."
Gustav placed a wet, white towel on Esmeray's face, covering her mouth and nose. He then proceeded to pour water on her face that creates a sensation of drowning once the water makes it almost impossible to breathe. Yet, instead of feeling panic, pain or fear, Esmeray felt relaxed. For the first few seconds, a series of very important thoughts had formed inside her head, a plan that would help her out. 'So that's what this does... He thinks he can 'drown' me. This tells me that my origin is still a mystery, and that Gustav doesn't know about the time I can hold my breath for. I need to 'struggle', make him think that I am feeling panic, pain or fear.' Esmeray rocked back and forth in her chair, creating the imagine of suffering.
Seeing a kid suffering made Gustave happy and the other gladiators even more scared. They knew, the less points they had, the more they would suffer. Just seeing Esmeray, the 9 pointer, struggle to no avail almost knocked some straight unconscious. After exactly 5 minutes, which Esmeray easily managed to hold her breath for, Gustav turned to the other kids. "Your turn!"
PENSAMENTOS DOS CRIADORES 
sargen
sargen In the end, I decided not to write what the other gladiators would experience, because only Esmeray was able to get out of that unharmed. Next chapter continues after the disciplinary action is over.
Status de energia semanal
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