Myths

Author notes

Arena page 5

ConnorLachmanec

on July 19, 2020

She soars high in the air, dark against the bright clouds of the sky. “Now”, she shouts, grinning broadly, “for your entertainment and as a sacrifice to Our Lord in The Depths, allow me to introduce to you today’s gladiators.” She swoops down like a falcon to hover over the arena’s west gate, a dark and ominous tunnel. “Entering through the west gate, please welcome the mad and ecstatic followers of Dionysus, The Thundering Thiasus!”
The Dionysians charge into the light, roaring harshly. The telkhine stamps his feet, clad in nothing but a loincloth and spiked pauldrons as he hefts a bronze fire siphon. The centaur flexes for the audience, iron armour and mace glinting in the sun, his face covered in a mask forged to mimic the visage of a snarling cyclops. On his back, his half-nymph lover perches gracefully, naked but for two scant pieces of jaguar skin. Her melted face is covered by a rosy-cheeked actor’s mask and she hefts a bronze pine cone-tipped staff. The satyr stands poised with trident in hand, smirking fiendishly. The crowd roars at them and they roar back.