• I live on this Earth in which war has raged and peace has prospered. I have witnessed death, caused death, and helped death. But most importantly, I, champion of my arena, have stopped death from destroying my city. Yes, I, Joseph Sayreh, has protected many including my family. I am the chief of the arena Zerach and have only lost one battle. But everything i have protected and fought for I may lose today.
    I only wish that my family will be okay, because standing here in front of my opponent I know I will not be able to defeat him. With full body armor and a perfectly sharpened sword with no shield { when the challenger is a lower rank shields are not permitted } I can see that his body has been perfected by years of work with no harm done. My only hope of winning is that I will be to lengthen the match by an extra hour or two and hope his stamina runs out due to the extra long sword he is carrying including the seven - inch dagger. In the top of the stands the crowd roars and i hear the announcer cry out " the rules are : there are no rules although, if the match takes to long we will release the tigers and then the lions! " " Good luck for both of you, you will need all you can get " " 1, 2, 3 ! You may begin "
    At the sound of the gong I sprung to the left and pulled out my sword made of pure iron, gold, and silver. My opponent nearly mirrored my movements and we collided with the force of two raging bulls. For an hour we chipped at each other and yelled out insults that were so harsh I nearly got myself killed because my opponent charged me and stabbed my left calf. Although his damage was far worse, I had managed to remove his helmet and lob off his left ear. Then the words I feared the most rang throughout the arena, " let the tigers out! " Suddenly parts of the floor began to rise around us and five starved tigers stared us straight in the eyes, this is why I hate battles with no shields, it normally ends up being a tie. The instant the tigers were unbound from their chains, they jumped into the air and began to pounce. Out of habit, I sidestepped and took out one of the tigers with a fierce stab into its belly. It let out a terrible screeching howl and the next tiger came right over not even noticing its brother's death. My opponent was being overwhelmed by three tigers and I quickly saw my chance. I turned around and stabbed the second tiger with my dagger since my sword had fallen from the impact of the first tiger. The tiger quickly gave up so I picked my sword and ran towards my enemy. For a second I thought I had won but I was terribly mistaken.
    When I tried to behead my opponent, he spun around like a top forgetting the last tiger because he had already slain the other two. He stabbed straight to my gut and since I was already injured I collapsed onto the floor unable to think from shock. I laid there and watched him remove the last tiger from the battle field and I wished it a good life in heaven and all the other people and animals I have killed. I knew it was over and the day I had to finally be overthrown was today. I have a family to protect and teach I thought to myself. So in my last burst of strength when my opponent tipped his sword to my neck, I threw my dagger at his fore head and I listened to the screams as if it was music. Then I knew I had given my family pride and quickly passed out into a distant dream.