"I don't understand that part."
"You have to take it by faith Roric. Until you actually believe in the Son of God and what He did for us, you aren't saved."
"Well, I guess He'll just have to make Himself real to me for me to believe."
"Oh, He will Roric. In His good time He will make Himself real to you in a powerful way. He will use you greatly in some great endeavor to the benefit of His everlasting kingdom."
"How do you know He'll do that?"
"I have faith that He will even as I ask Him for it every day in my prayers Roric. The Creator has done everything for us and not the other way around. Simply trust Him and have faith, and in the passage of time all will be made right, you'll see."
"Wake up tiger bait!"
Jarred awake by the kick to my side I jumped to my feet. The memory of my mother quickly faded as the reality of my current situation set in. I was quickly outfitted and shoved through the tunnels of my old haunts. I could hear the noise of the crowd roaring in anticipation of the coming bloodlust. Protesting loudly, the rusty arena door slowly rose upward. I stepped out onto the sand of the arena not waiting for the push from behind.
The sandy floor of the arena stretched out before me and I advanced into it. The dusty tan color of the sand was mottled in places to a dark red, which helped mark the spots where mortal life had been lost. Casting my gaze upwards I took in the crowd assembled in the bleachers rising on all sides above the arena walls. They were shouting, as they usually were in a mixture of anticipatory excitement and blood lust. They were eager to see suffering and bloodletting.
All the old memories came flooding back to me now. Mentally attempting to shake them off I remembered my dream from the night before. I hadn't dreamed about my mother in years, but her lessons of yesterday were very real today too. Emboldened by the need to survive and the belief in my new found faith that I could I stepped into the center of the arena boldly. I stood waiting there patiently for what would come next as obscenities and jeers were thrown my way by the crowd of onlookers all around me.
A sense of excitement rippled through me as it always did when the fight was about to start. I didn't have to wait long for it. Seven arena dungeon doors began to creak open and through the half open doors seven starved Attorgron tigers clawed at the dust in eagerness to get into the sunlight. They sprang into the open arena giving each other cautious looks at first. Not liking the roaring of the crowds or their exposure to an unknown situation, they slunk around the arena as they got their bearings.