Titans - March of Progress

After what felt like hours of aimless walking with only his thoughts to distract him, Sain looked up to the darkening sky, even as he heard shouting in the distance. As the noise registered to him, Sain furrowed his brow and turned his gaze towards the source of noise. He could see a lit-up warehouse on the side of a hill quite some distance away. Every now and then a loud roar erupted from the place. A sound that usually came from a large number of people yelling at the same time. Not knowing what was going on over there, Sain’s curiosity got the best of him, and he started walking briskly towards the place, feeling himself heat up at the exertion. He was wearing a few layers of winter clothes now after all.

It took a good amount of time for him to reach the place, as unfamiliar with it as he was. Upon reaching what he thought was the entrance, Sain noticed a large crowd clustered around a gate, all clamoring to get in. Sain noticed a few gang members stopping the crowd whilst a few others seemed to be selling tickets of some sort. Sain just blinked and realized it must be some sort of show or something. Opting not to join the crowd, Sain skirted around the crowd and made for the alley that ran alongside the warehouse wall.

Sain could still hear a significant amount of noise from inside and felt his curiosity surge. Now he really wanted to get into the place. He kept walking around the building until he came to an area secured by a tall wooden fence. Peering through a gap in the wooden slats, Sain could see a door that had been left slightly ajar. A back door exit by the look of it. Looking around him, Sain saw no one in sight, and with a small grin, started climbing the fence. Within moments he was on the other side, landing softly on the ground. He went straight for the door and noticed someone had shoved a brick in the bottom of the door to keep it open.

Not caring as to who or why, Sain didn’t hesitate in the slightest and pulled the door open only enough for him to slide through. As he slipped inside, he was instantly buffeted by a wave of noise. Shouting, yelling, and the distinct sounds of people yelling out in pain. Sain found himself at the back of a walkway that seemed to run through the entire building. It was raised a good five meters off the ground with a single railing spanning its entire length. Pushed up to and leaning over the railing, everywhere he looked were people. Some holding bottles of alcohol, or even fists of cash.

A little bewildered, Sain squeezed his way to the railing and looked out over the warehouse floor. Again, everywhere he looked, there were masses of people packed into the place, all surrounding what looked like a cage. And in the cage were two men, fighting each other.

Sain blinked as he realized he had walked into some sort of competition, or fight night considering it was being run out of a warehouse by a gang. He couldn’t help but smile a little. This was entertainment. Looking back to the cage in the middle of the warehouse, his smile faded rather quickly as he noticed the men fighting each had weapons. One had a long knife, the other a small axe. A hatchet of some sort.

Sain instantly felt a sick feeling rise in his throat as he realized this must be some sort of death match, born from the illegal slave trade that thrived in Rindai. He gulped as he saw the man with the axe hack at the other, the blade slamming into a shoulder. The blade didn’t cut cleanly though, as though it was significantly blunted. The victims' agonized cry of pain was quickly lost in the cacophony of cheers and boos that erupted from the crowd.

Sain tightened his jaw and suddenly wanted nothing more than to get out of this place. He had no desire to see two bonded men kill each other for a crowd’s amusement. He pushed away from the railing, his curiosity sated, right as he felt a hand drop onto his shoulder and squeeze, causing him to yelp. Trying to turn and twist away, Sain tried to get away from whoever had gotten their hands on him. But the hand was large and strong, and it gripped him tightly.

He felt another hand on the back of his neck and he grabbed at the big fingers, trying to pull the person's grip away. He struggled and kicked as he was essentially dragged backwards away from the railing. One person watching the fights turned irritably around to look at the commotion but once he saw Sain in his predicament, the man swiftly turned away wide eyed.

That did not bode well for Sain as he was unceremoniously dragged out of the door that he had snuck in through. Getting thrown at the wooden fence, he gasped as he bounced off of it and fell to his hands and knees, slightly winded by the impact. Looking up, he felt a knot form in his stomach as he looked into the face of Jalel. The man stood there looking down at Sain angrily as a half dozen youths filed out of the door to stand in the small fenced off area. They stood in a semi-circle around Sain, Jalel in the middle flanked by unfamiliar faces. There was one other face he recognized though. Ricky.

Sain stared at Ricky, seeing his friend looking mildly uncomfortable. And not looking at Sain. It looked like Ricky was refusing to meet his gaze. Then Jalel spoke, and Sain's gaze flicked to him as a feeling of dread began to build in him.

"You fucked up Sain" Jalel stated and shook his head in what Sain surmised to be a gesture of disappointment from the man. Sain swore he saw a flash of grief or sadness even, and he just stared at Jalel with wide eyes.

“I was going to come after you tomorrow, but it’s not every day you see some dumb shit kid sneak into a fight night. I thought you would have had more brains than that” Jalel stated. Sain looked around him again, noting the grim expressions of the youths surrounding him. The knot in his stomach dissipated, quickly being replaced by the feeling of butterflies fluttering in his guts. He was nervous as hell, and it showed on his face.

Jalel picked up on that and smiled grimly as Sain remained silent.

“Sorry kid. But you failed me, and even got Minda killed. A lot of our boys got fucked up too by the Hard Hats cause you didn't pull your weight. So now you pay for that. You are dead now” Jalel stated and motioned with a hand for his followers to step forward and do the deed themselves. A few even looked eager as they drew small knives.

Feeling an ice-cold feeling run down his spine in a shock, Sain panicked and stood up fast, turning away and looking at the fence. He didn’t even think and drew on his magic as his fight or flight response washed over him. He pulled it up and gathered the energy around his right hand. With a cutting motion, he slashed a hand twice through the fence. Then he launched at it. He pushed straight through it as the timber pushed out in front of him, and as he passed through the newly formed hole, he felt his coat catch on the splintered timber.

Tugging on it, Sain pulled his coat from the fence and then started to run down the alley, not even taking time to look behind him. He could hear shouts and curses as Jalel and his men no doubt tried to follow Sain through the fence.

Sain just ran and ran, with no idea of where he was going, his mind awash with thoughts as he sought to understand what had just happened. It had happened so fast.

Hearing shouts behind him, he looked over his shoulder briefly, catching sight of three of the youth’s hot on his tail and gaining. Sain gritted his teeth and looked back in front as he ran, his feet pounding hard on the pavestones of the alley way. The lighting was poor, and he did not know where he was going still, the area around him devoid of any familiar landmarks.

Taking a chance, Sain took a sharp turn to the right and started sprinting down another alley, head down in effort. Hearing a shout to his front though, he looked up and saw two more youths running at him from the opposite direction. He cursed inwardly and took a sharp turn to the right again into a walkway. It would have been three meters wide at most and ran between two brick walls that marked the boundaries of buildings. Looking straight ahead he cursed as he saw Jalel and the remaining youth coming at him from the end of the path. The two of them slowed to a jog, seeing that Sain had no way out. Sain stared daggers at them, recognizing the youth with Jalel as Ricky, his supposed friend. Sain came to a halt just as he heard the other youths come in behind him from the path’s other end and he turned to face them, trapped.