“Just what the fuck is your problem? Get up!”

Herrak Bereyn reluctantly opened his eyelids. With each passing millisecond of opening them, he regretted it more and more. His eyes saw shoes, black shoes on feet. He was barely able to move his beaten head up to change his view to an angry face looking down on him. Behind the face he saw only stars.

Herrak looked around him, to once more remember how terrible this all was. He saw a huge crowd, in seats and rows and columns, all in a circle around himself, this man in front of him, and a huge, bare arena, with metal flooring, only to hurt more when you're knocked down.

“My problem is this battle, Crow Whip.”

Crow-Whip. The name everyone called Herrak's opponent by. That was his fighting nickname, for he was known as the stone-cold murderer, wielding a whip made of electricity, hooked to a metal handle, encased in rubber for a better grip. He dropped his real name once he killed his first enemy. Only a handful still knew his name, including Herrak. And only his closest friends remembered.

That's right, Herrak was Crow-Whip's friend. His best friend. They met in the god-forsaken arena and helped each other through the hardest times. Soon, the public began to find this out, and decided to pit the two of them together. Herrak, with his dual pistols shooting bullets of melting mercury... And Crow, with his whip. Together they could have conquered the world. But there's no room for that in the Nebularena. An entire space station, 5 miles wide and 5 miles long, dedicated to the most famous arena in all of the human habitats of the galaxy. And Herrak and Crow were next on the list.

The crowd angered as Crow replied, “It happens. This is the arena, and we are slaves to the fight. If both of us live through this, we will both die later. However, if one dies, the other shall live. And the one who dies is NOT gonna be ME!”

With a cruel shout, Crow whipped Herrak with all of his strength. Herrak jumped into a standing position with a yelping cry.

“Please, Crow! It doesn't have to be this way! You and me—we can conquer the world. If we band together, we can fight ourselves outta here! I'm not about to kill my best friend!” Herrak begged and pleaded.

Herrak never really did have loved ones. His parents grew sick of the crazy laws and committed group suicide when he was only five, and with the new laws since 2341, that made him officially an outlaw, doomed to be either jailed or trained and then thrown into the pits. He somehow managed to protect himself from the Alliance of Mould for a few years, but one fateful day, it became not a struggle for survival, but a struggle for love.

He was a young man at 16. He was hiding out in a sort-of secret shelter for orphans, and he spotted a girl that really caught his attention. He didn't know what, but something about her made him want to talk to her.

As hard as it was for him, young Herrak got to know this girl through a few months. Her name was Morrighan Aranrhard, and her parents had died recently of a horrible virus that almost got her. She immediately went into hiding, knowing her laws very well. She was told later by the doctor of the orphanage that this disease was called Acquired-ImmunoDeficiency-Syndrome Multi-Perosis, or a mutated form of AIDs, a disease discovered in the 20th century. Apparently, this disease was ancient and already cured, but this new mutated form had only popped up about three years ago, in 2352, and it just baffled medical scientists.

Fifteen year old Morrighan was heartbroken about her parents, but Herrak comforted her, and they fell in love. When Herrak later talked with Crow about this, he jokingly commented, “I guess even rejects from society don't need to pay money to lose their virginity.” Of course, this comment angered Herrak.

Later, after Herrak turned 17, which happened after Morrighan turned 16, the orphanage suddenly became rampant with panic. Confused, Morrighan asked one of them what was happening.

“The fuzz! They're coming! We've got to pack all our things and ditch the city!” explained a random man.

Morrighan ran up the stairs. “I've got to warn Herrak!” she though to herself over and over as she climbed the flight of stairs of hallways. When she finally got to the door, she heard faint talking with anger in the tone.

“Herrak?” she shouted with her ear to the door. No reply came back. She tried again. Still nothing. So she opened the door, but she instantly regretted it.

Herrak was being violently held by Alliance officials. They had apparently come in through the windows, wishing to get as many outlaws as they could. They were all shouting uncomprehensible anger at each other, but once Herrak saw Morrighan standing there, he shut himself up. Ironically, the officials were shouting at him to shut up at the time, but they didn't realize he only stopped talking because of his girlfriend.

“Herrak! No!” Morrighan called out. She reached for a pistol she kept in her pocket and instantly pointed it at the soldiers. They only laughed. She began to shiver and sweat while she held the gunpoint position.

“Oh, look, girlie has a gun.”

“Shall we show her ours?”

“Oh, yes.”

As a joke, they first unzipped their zippers, making Morrighan shudder, but luckily they immediately zipped them back up. Unfortunately, they took their real guns out from being slung across their backs. Huge rifles. Morrighan lowered hers.

“There, there. Now, drop it and kick it to us!”

Morrighan slowly let go of her side arm shivering and sweating more with each muscle movement. But once it fell to knee-length, she bent down at lightning speed, grabbed the gun, and shot all three of the guards in one quick movement.

Herrak was amazed yet again by her aiming skills, yet he already knew about them. Morrighan hung her gun there for a few seconds, letting it smoke, until the two of them stopped shaking. Then tears formed in both their eyes.

“Herrak, I... I shouldn't have done that... One slip and I... I... Could've... k...” She began to cry uncontrollably. They ran to each other and threw their arms around each other.

They spent too long having a reunion, for five more guards soon climbed through the window and grabbed them both. Two grabbed Morrighan, and three grabbed Herrak. They were then pulled apart, into opposite sides of the room.

“Herrak!”

“Morrighan!”

“Shuchyer trapsh!” the captain of the five commanded. “Ya two're mon, nouh!”

Herrak remembered that terrible day, years ago. He remembered his years of training. They gave give two guns and asked him to go forth and kill or die. And so he did. He met Crow-Whip, and never saw Morrighan again.

But, now 24, Morrighan had escaped prison with knowledge of Herrak joining the Nebularena—as a gladiator. She came as fast as she could, but she was blocked by the guards of the main arena.

“Herrak! Stop being such a fool! You are going to fight me so that one of us can live on! Hear me out!” Crow just kept barking at Herrak until they, and the entire crowd, heard two gunshots, so close together they sounded as one.

Herrak knew but one person that good with a pistol. He suspected—No, it couldn't be. Plenty of people could be good with a gun. He was not about to bring his hopes up for nothing.

“Crow...”

“What!”

“If one of us may die... I have nothing to live for.” Herrak got on in his knees. “Finish me.” He looked down at the ground, feeling no shame or remorse.

Crow-Whip readied his whip. But at that moment Morrighan ran into the arena calling Herrak's name out, over and over again. Herrak looked at Morrighan and had many mixed expressions on his face for many mixed feelings. But Crow, realizing his lover came back for him, had already thrown the whip. He could not stop it. Herrak was decapitated, and Crow immediately yelled out a gigantic “NOOOOOOO!” as he fell to his knees and began to cry uncontrollably.

“What have I done?!”

Once Morrighan saw this, she gave the biggest, most blood-curdling scream that anyone in the crowd had ever heard in their entire lives. Extra guards immediately ran in wielding spears with electrical blades and shocked Morrighan to death.

Crow-Whip lived on to become the most famous and wealthy fighter who ever lived, able to retire way early, but he had never felt happiness since before that fateful battle, when he gave his best friend a wish of good luck.