Markus stepped out, dark hair as thick and long as ever, and with a few more scars along his jawline and shoulder blades. He looked roughened, but still somehow refined in his current state. Squinting, the sun without a cloud in the sky to hamper it, he attempted to look around for any escape route. He saw none, but his gaze kept returning to a blonde haired beauty that he could swear was looking straight at him. There was something familiar about her, but the light of the day obscured his vision, having just stepped out of the shadows. 

The gate opposite him began to move, gears churning as the steel gave way and allowed his challenger to enter. Luckily, he needn't look up to see he was fighting a brutal looking Orc. Leather straps across his broad chest, his eyes were bloodshot as if he was under the effects of some drug, and dual axes were clutched in the gladiator's meaty fists. He had faced Orcs before, but there was a measured way in how it moved while still twitching in an alarming fashion. 

Briefly he glanced back up at the beauty, and there was something there that he swore he recognized. It looked like she was someone he had met before. He was delving into his mind on this very fact when the gong was struck by the hammer, and it was all Markus could do to survive the first axe that had been aimed at the crown of his skull. He took one step back with a guarded look, taking his sword out of its scabbard as the second axe swept in. He had moved on instinct, and it was the wrong instinct, as the blow was far too heavy to block and it knocked his own sword into him. Luckily, it was the flat of the blade and he merely stumbled back with nothing but a split lip. 

The Orc now had his full attention, and as the Mer waded in with a series of X slashes that Markus ducked and caught with his blade to redirect it rather than parry. The spellsword was not weak by any stretch of the imagination, but the Orc was built like bull and it was all he could do to keep himself from being split in half. Markus stabbed forward, the Orc's axe blade turning his own, and he attempted to counter with an upward sweep. Markus spun and sliced, yet again his sword was caught by the under end of the axe head, the Orc grinning terribly before he realized his error, as the axe had only redirected it. Markus stepped forward and simply continued to move his blade, half-swording for a moment to cut open a deep gash into the Orc's midsection. 

To his credit, the Orc didn't seem too phased other than giving a small shriek before headbutting Markus. The swordsman blinked, his vision growing blurry as he backpedaled and nearly fell prone. On instinct, the correct instinct this time, he flung himself to the side as the axes sliced downwards. When Markus hit the ground, he saw the Orc's groin was open and he didn't need to be told twice. He pushed his blade deep into the Orc's lower stomach, probably cutting the gladiator's manhood as he did so. This time, the Orc felt it and he let out a heavy grunt, dropping his axes into the arena dust as he desperately tried to hold in his intestines. 

"Fucker," Markus breathed, managing to groggily get to his feet with his blade. The Orc looked down at the ruins of its body, then back up at Markus just in time to see the end of its life, and its head flew from its shoulders to land noisily on the floor of the coliseum. What happened next was pure, utter silence.... And then the crowd roared, and as the rugged swordsman tried to realigned his thoughts after having been knocked in the head, he attempted to look up one more time at where the woman was. But she was gone, and he was ushered out to have his wounds tended to and food to be brought, going back into the darkness as if he had never left it, save for a bright dream of blood and dirt. 

"Suppose I should be thankful," he told himself.