"So you are saying that everyone who has been locked in this cell will end up playing house with the crazy beast in the dungeon all because of their tragic past?" Flint asks.

Lucian nodded. He revealed to Flint and his team what had been happening in the dungeon and the only future that awaits them.

"At least they are not going to kill us; I'm sure that they will set us free one day." One of Flint's teammates said, trying to get the rest of the team to brighten up.

"They will kill." Lucian's voice was heavy. "After you spend your whole youth as a mindless slave, they will kill you when you get older and then replace you with any new humans that come their way. Who knows? They might find another fool to go outside the dungeon and scout for new prey to bring to them." He glared at Draven.

Draven isolated himself from everyone in the cell; he kept his head down, refusing to apologize to Flint and his teammates. While he ignores everyone else in the cell, they ignore him as well.

Flint teams turned pale as they realized that they were going to die either way.

Reed reveals to them how he escaped and shows them the broken gem that was still with him.

"I'm guessing that is also how you manage to escape." Flint turns to Lucian, who agrees with his misunderstanding.

Lucian gave Reed a certain look that made Reed turn away from Flint.

"But if that beast Wisteria was the one who made this, then she won't need one to control any human in her custody." Flint mumbles out in thought, "Her powers would be enough to subdue a person into her mindless control, so how then did you escape the same way if she never used the gem?"

'smart ass.' Lucian fights his facial muscles to keep himself from frowning. Just when he was about to explain himself, Wisteria came into the underground cellar.

She uses her magic to create food for Lucian. "I'm sorry. I haven't been coming to visit you as often as before. You must be hungry; after all, you have gone days without food. Eat up, son."

Lucian didn't move to touch the food. The heated gaze on him from other hungry players made him uncomfortable; although he was hungry and didn't care much about the others, he had a feeling that if he went ahead and ate, everyone in the cell who had formed a silent peace treaty with him due to their situation would start to hate him. His teammates weren't around; Lucian knew that he needed the help of others to survive the dungeon.

"What about the others?" Lucian asks, "I'm not the only hungry human around."

Wisteria smiled; she thought Lucian was falling into her trap. His concern for the other humans only meant she had a way to make him her son; after all, Lucian didn't only know the new humans Draven brought, but he shared a bond with them. With the lives of more of his friends at stake, he will give in to her demands.

"Feeding them is easy, as long as you are finally ready to be a good boy and come back home with me."

"You know that is never going to happen." Lucian replied in a tired tone. Whenever he sees Wisteria, she only has one thing to say repeatedly.

"Be careful of the words you use, boy; you are only going to put your friends in danger."

Lucian rolled his eyes. "I'm not your son. Get over your victim syndrome; you are not the only one who has faced tragedy in life, Wisteria."

"You think I'm bluffing?" Anger fills Wisteria's voice. She waves both of her hands in the air, providing food for everyone in the cell. Lucian food was plentiful and much better than others. "Eat up, everyone; you are going to need the strength." Her voice carried an evil tone as she faced Lucian. "The real tragedy is about to begin." She snickers, "How sad it will be when friends fight to the death and kill each other. It's about time I create entertainment for my people."

"Why do you keep provoking her?" Reed asked Lucian in anger after Wisteria left the cell. He had a feeling that something was coming; it felt like a bad tornado that would sweep them to their graves.

"What do you want?" Lucian asks sarcastically, "That I sacrifice my life and be her damn son because of you?"

Flint sighed, "Calmed down. Let's just eat and prepare for what the beast has for us." He picked up the rice on his plate, eating with his hand.

Draven, unlike the others, had started eating immediately. He knew that Lucian lied about being controlled by a gem, but he didn't care about Lucian. He had someone else in mind he was obsessed with, the ones that ruined him and his chance for freedom. Tara and Kalon were his only enemies; he was going to make them suffer even if he had to take them to the grave with him.

Lucian shared the bread he had with Reed; it was a form of bribe. If Reed ends up too angry, he might spill his secret.

"If you think a bread is going to make me forget what you did—"

Lucian shoves the bread into Reed's mouth. Reed angrily chewed on it and stopped his complaints; the bread was soft and delicious. Lucian was the only one who had bread.

'Nicely played, you damned villain.' Reed thought.

Lucian and everyone in the cell are brought outside by 7 female guards; they are taken to an arena that had recently been created with earth magic. Around the arena the village sat down in excitement, ready to watch as humans showed their traitorous nature and betrayed each other.

"Remember, your only way to survive another day is by killing your opponent." Wisteria said from her throne-like seat, which she had created for herself. Her eyes found Lucian from within the crowd. "Remember, son, for every blood that is shared and for every death that happens, it could have been avoided if you would have just stopped being stubborn and welcomed my generous offer."

"Fuck you!" Lucian shouted. Folding his arm around his chest, he focuses on the two people who had been chosen for the first fight, Draven and a guy from the Flint team. "Don't kill each other." He said, "Don't turn yourself into a puppet by giving in to her demands."

The guy in Flint's team nodded at Lucian.

Draven turned the sword in his hand; everyone else was waiting for his reply. "I don't know how to fight anyway." He said harmlessly.

The match started, and Draven and his opponent gently struck their swords against each other without putting much effort.

"Draven!" Wisteria called. Her people were getting bored with the show they were putting on. "If you both refuse to fight, you are both going to die."

Shaken by Wisteria's words, Draven fearfully holds his swords, "Let's continue fighting the same way." He said, "I know Wisteria; if she wanted us both dead, she would have killed us already."

His opponent nodded, keeping his guard down, expecting Draven to follow his movement, but Draven moved his blade upward, easily dodging his opponent's gentle strike and slicing his blade through his opponent's neck.

The villagers shouted in excitement.

Draven watched coldly as his opponent choked on his own blood and thought, 'I betrayed you once; how can you be so naive to trust me again?' He strikes his blade through the center of his opponent's neck.

"I have known Wisteria long enough to know that she isn't bluffing when she says that she will kill us." He said to the dead body.

"That bastard." Flint was so angry that he wanted to rush into the arena and kill Draven, but he held himself back, knowing if he did that, Wisteria might make something worse happen to him and his teammates.

"Next!" Wisteria shouted as Draven returned back to where other players were kept.

Draven was stained with blood; he held on to his sword to defend himself in case anyone from the Flint team wanted revenge.

Lucian and Flint were next; they were both given a sword, and as Flint walked past Draven, whose eyes were down, he felt tempted to attack him.

"Are we really going to do this?" Lucian asks. He didn't trust Flint or anyone but himself.

"If one of us doesn't die. Both of us are going to die." Flint raised his blade and struck Lucian, who immediately countered the attack with his sword. He felt miserable for being controlled and didn't want to fight against Lucian, but he couldn't think of any way out.

The crowd shouts as Lucian's sword cuts through Flint's leg. Flint winces in pain and focuses on Lucian's next attack, hating himself. When his blade cut Lucian at his arm, he stopped and let go of his weapon.

"Pick up your sword." Lucian hisses in pain.

"No. You win. I can't do it. I can't kill another person just because I want to survive."

'honest ass.' Lucian thought with heavy breath. 'He's making me look like a jerk.'

"Finish him." Wisteria stood up from her seat.

Lucian drops his sword. "No. Who the hell do you think you are to order us around?"

From a distance, Reed facepalms himself at Lucian's audacity.

"We are not killing each other." Lucian stated strongly.

Wisteria gritted her teeth in anger. She ordered her guard to remove Flint from the arena, making Lucian the winner even though Lucian and Flint were equally matched in their fight.

Flint is confined together with other humans no one in the village wanted; they were frozen in an abandoned storehouse, waiting for the day Wisteria had the time to kill them.

"Soren?" Flint called out in surprise. When he didn't see Soren with Lucian, he assumed that he had been taken as a mindless hostage in one of the beast homes like the other humans in the village; he didn't know that Soren had been kept aside to wait for death.

The guard holding Flint knocks him out by hitting him at the back of his head.

Lucian had a disbelieving expression on his face as Reed whispered ridiculous gossip to his ear. They were back to the cell.

"No way." Lucian eyed Draven, who continued to isolate himself from everyone. He felt pity for Flint and his team, who fell into a trap because of a love quarrel. "With all the death happening since we came to Hlasked, you would think that love is the last thing on everyone's mind," he said to Reed, keeping his voice low enough for only Reed to hear.

"I know, right." Reed placed a hand on his chin, feeling exhausted even though he didn't fight. "It is so stupid."