In this case, it was hard to miss: someone, possessing a very strong vibe, near someone lacking it.

It was so evident to me, I didn't even need to look at them directly. Still, I got near them as I was getting close to the cage, as if I were a common spectator.

The one with the strong vibe had seen better days: his appearance was a mess and the same could be said about his body as a whole. I was still learning the basics of biochemistry and that guy was definitely not okay. Spasmodic movement, lack of focus, malnourished, blooshot eyes, dehydrated, some serious dental deficiencies... at first sight, he was drunk, but no, this was completely different. And, on other note, after looking at his entire raggedy attire, I concluded that he also was bankrupt.

I noticed this last detail while I observed the person he was talking to. While the first guy just had some raggedy clothes covering his body, the other was dressed in expensive looking clothing. Not that the well-dressed one was different from any other member of the rowdy audience, aside from the quality of his garments. Also, he was quite young, maybe even my own age; very healthy (only a cavity, as far as I could see), very wealthy, as shown by his clothes; and very business focused.

This wealthy guy was negotiating a price with the scrawny man, who tried to bargain all he could to acquire something. The confidence of the first clashed nicely with the desperation of the second and, after a joke of a tug-o-war for a good price, the scrawny one desperately put a ball of bills on the wealthy one's hands.

The vendor took his sweet time to count the bills, one by one, whilst the buyer seemed more and more agitated. The first surely enjoyed his own superiority. After determining that the count was right, the smug vendor produced a small envelope and gave it to his impatient client, who, immediately, retrieved a very small strip of paper from the envelope and put it inside his mouth.

Then, this scrawny man, full of desperation, knelt right there, first relaxed, then in pure bliss and, finally, with a bit of pain, overpowered: all his blood vessels seemed to enlarge to absurd levels; all his muscles tensed and, with the strong circulation of blood, he looked like he had grown three sizes in two seconds; his eyes recovered the gleam and his lungs captured air like no tomorrow. From that sickly man to that muscular mass, all it took was ten seconds.

And that was extraordinary, but not so much as the other little detail: no one seemed to care. Someone threw a distracted glance to him, but kept doing whatever as if this was as normal as a pebble on the ground.

But that wasn't what I saw, and, I was pretty sure, it wasn't what Anaissa saw either. The nature of that thing he consumed wasn't normal, probably not even legal. And, in my eyes, highly unnatural. The strange vibes grew considerably stronger in seconds and the quality of his Snow changed.

I searched for that shady vendor, but he was lost among the cheering crowd. Unfortunately, I hadn't noticed that person's face. His client, on the other hand, picked himself up and, with no doubt in his mind and a body that screamed" strength", he ran to the cage as Anaissa got out, fists covered on blood.

"Well, you already noticed it, didn't you?" she said once she was by my side, as she took off her bandages. "Best thing to attract shady people is starting a shady place".

"Shouldn't you report them?" I whispered to her.

"Again, I don't like this city for more reasons than its decoration" she guided me to the food stand and served herself a sandwich. "When I saw the chains all over it, I knew this place was rotten to the core".

"A vision?"

"You call it vision, I call it truth. "Snow doesn't keep anything from those who sense it" she sat down in a chair that wasn't there half a second before and took a long look at the crowd, as that drugged up junkie mopped the floor with his adversary. "You, look at the audience" she ordered. "Tell me, how many addicts do you count?"

"Almost everyone" it wasn't necessary to look at them again. "And this food..."

"It's just a little fix. It won't solve the problem but the attendants won't feel urges from their addiction for a time" she ate clearly out of spite, but kept the smile on her face. "I don't have any obligation to anyone, but I hate chains. I'll fight for myself, but I'll also try to be useful for this flock of idiots. Maybe I'm the last help they'll get in their worthless penniless lives".

Anaissa was always tender to me but, as I ended up discovering soon after, she was very rough with anyone else. I still saw through her, that little light of her kindness; but she didn't like to show that to anyone but me. It doesn't matter if she did this only for the fright, she really wanted her actions to have a meaning and use.

She drank an entire bottle, put her cloth over her mouth and flexed, ready for her name to be announced.

"I still have one fight for today. If you like, you can wait for me at home" she already considered her hidden palace" my home. "I always smiled every time she mentioned it. "Wish me luck".

No need to wish her anything: as I saw a minute later, she always fought hard. Steel hard. Her opponent, the very same pathetic drugged guy who reached the finals that day, didn't last even the first round and, after a skillful dodging, she finished the fight in only one devastating knee to the face.

"Can you believe it? She won every tournament to this day" Hisa, appearing from nowhere with two hot dogs in her hands, pointed out what was so evident to me. "She's too intense for the half-assed thugs of Colony 32".

"Good thing there's more than the first prize, don't you think?" over the ring, the classification showed Anaissa's name on the top and the prizes for all participants. Even the lowest of the low received some consolation prize for bringing fresh blood to the ring. Everyone there had a chance to earn big, enough for them to solve any financial problem.

Only a little fix, she said, "in more ways than one" I added.

"Lately there're so many contenders they had to start classification bouts after the main event" Hisa laughed with her usual bitterness. "I'm considering entering myself, so I can forget those stupid pigs at my job".

I knew Hisa too well: she would never dare to risk her nose. Neither would I.

Unless...

"Can anyone enter the cage?" I asked her.

"What?" the question got her by surprise. "Yeah, I think... some spontaneous fighters jumped into the cage more than once and they were treated as common fighters either way. I don't think there's any kind of registration for participants or anything. You just jump in the cage and..."

"Understood" I threw her my hoodie and, before she could process what I did, I was inside the cage.

In front of the same shady, well dressed vendor who, in an act of arrogance, challenged anyone in the audience to fight him. But only a girl who barely reached his chin answered his plea.

Me.

The referee didn't stop me, but my now opponent laughed in my face once he saw who was going to be his adversary. He probably said some thing or another, maybe mocked me, my tribal paint, or my pigtails. Probably.

I was more focused on extracting any information I could from his very existence and, truly, he delivered in spades all kinds of incomprehensible shapes. Even when the referee closed the cage and put his hand between us to signal the start of the fight, he kept sputtering nonsense.

Three seconds before the referee gave us the go, I saluted him with my people's warrior greet: a fist to the throat. I heard the laughing coming from the audience.

Two seconds, I put myself into position, as that sleaze ball smelled blood.

One second, and he was already jumping over me.

Two seconds after, he was on the ground, writhing in pure and unadulterated pain. Good thing I was left-handed: that made it really easy crushing his liver with a brutal hook.

Never mess with a Thaebian.

The entire crowd fell silent in utter disbelief, so much that the voice announcing my victory resonated on the walls of that fake cavern. Even Hisa, at the exit of the cage, waited for me, mouth gaped, after seeing what I had just achieved.

"Wanna forget about the pigs in your job for one day or two?" I asked her, as I recovered my hoodie and went to collect the winnings on my victory. Hisa would enjoy the money, I would enjoy the pleased mastermind of the ring tonight.