During Cyrus’s match another gladiator was released inside the Coliseum causing the battle to become unfair for Cryus. As Aurelius saw this happen, he was a bit bothered by the unfairness so he decided to take things into his own hands. He stood up and jolted towards the center of the gladiator pit. While Cyrus fought the gladiators off, Aurelius made his way down to the pit. With the element of surprise, he snuck up one of the gladiators with a stone in his hand and in one swift move he struck the gladiator with the head confusing the man and causing him to become disoriented. 

Growing up, Aurelius had always found an interest in the gladiators and the Coliseum itself. Before Aurelius met Cyrus, he had previously been hanging out around in the city of Roma near the fights. As Aurelius was headed to the open air markets to work for some of the local shopkeepers, he found himself in a situation where a man had been running towards him with a loculus full of stolen goods from the nearby shops. As the thief ran towards him he caught the attention of a gladiator by the name of Cyrus who began chasing him without hesitation. Aurelius got himself ready. In one swift motion Aurelius caught the man running towards his direction and wrapped his arm around him as he threw him to the ground. Cyrus came to a halt once he approached Aurelius. With a surprised expression, he congratulated Aurelius.

“Great job, kid! I didn’t expect you to try and stop this low life of a thief.”

“Thank you, Cyrus. I doubted myself if I'm being honest. I felt like I was gonna mess it up and let the thief get the upper hand.”

“What’s your name, kid? As a token of my gratitude, how would you like to come and see me fight in the coliseum? I can even give you a tour of the place.”

“My name is Aurelius, Aurelius Amadeus, and it would be a pleasure to see you fight and be able to have a one-on-one tour with you, Cyrus”

“Alright, it's a deal then. Just make sure to come before sunset so I’m able to give you a tour of the Coliseum”

As Aurelius and Cyrus said their goodbyes to each other Aurelius returned to the shopkeepers, helping return the stolen goods. After a couple of minutes of making sure to return the items to their rightful owners, Aurelius decided to head to the Coliseum. As he got closer to the Coliseum, he saw many gladiator fighters talking to each other and enjoying the warm evening. Upon his arrival, Aurelius was able to catch up to Cyrus before he could head inside. As they made their way inside of the coliseum Cyrus decided to start the tour showing him where the fighters waited until it was their turn to fight. Cyrus even showed him the center which was the gladiator's pit which was empty for the moment other than a few gladiators preparing themselves physically and mentally. As Cyrus finished his tour for Aurelius people started making their way to their seats slowly filling up the empty area. 

“Go on ahead and take a seat, the fight will start soon.”

“Okay, I’ll make sure to sit in the front row so I'm able to get the best view out of everyone else. and thank you for this opportunity, Cyrus. I'll be rooting for you, good luck.”

Aurelius and Cyrus said their goodbyes to each other once again, as they parted ways to their areas Aurelius felt a surge of happiness feeling his childhood dream of being able to partake in watching a gladiator fight go down in front of his eyes beginning to become accomplished. Aurelius sat down taking a seat in one of the seats that were closest to the gladiator pit, as the fight began Aurelius watched the fight go down intently as he rooted for Cyrus. While Aurelius watched the fight go on he felt a gut-wrenching feeling that something was wrong and as soon as Cyrus started to win against his opponent another gladiator was let into the pit with a club. As Aurelius watched this he was confused yet didn’t hesitate to spring into action as he stood up and ran towards the railing, while he made his way down to the gladiators' pit he had the element of surprise or at least he thought he did and as he slowly made his way towards Cyrus which was now surrounded by two gladiators one with a club and the other with his bare fist. As soon as Aurelius got too close the crowd roared causing one of the gladiators to turn around and spot Aurelius, as soon as he knew he was spotted Aurelius grabbed a stone off the floor on instinct and chucked the stone at the gladiator hitting him on his head and with that he dropped club due to the stone disorienting him and confusing him. 

As soon as the gladiator dropped his club Cyrus dove for the club and grabbed it taking advantage of the situation as he stood up he swung at the gladiator's legs causing him to collapse from the sudden impact on his legs. While Cyrus beat down the other gladiator Aurelius ran towards the other gladiator and threw a punch with all his strength causing the gladiator to stumble back just a couple of inches. 

“What the hell” exclaimed Aurelius 

“Listen kid this is a man's sport, not no child's play, compared to me you've got the strength of an old man.”

Upon Aurelius' realization of the strength difference between him and the gladiators, he stood there as if he had been frozen in place. As the gladiator charged up his punch everything around Aurelius felt as if everything was moving in slow motion before being punched as the gladiator's fist connected with Aurelius' jaw he felt his brain bouncing around inside his skull before dropping to the ground as he lost consciousness. While Cyrus saw this go down he felt a sense of responsibility for Aurelius so he decided to drop the club and charge toward the gladiator as he charged him he tackled him down while having the element of surprise, as Cyrus began to beat down the gladiator the audience roared in joy from watching the fight continue. As Cyrus continued to beat down the gladiator with his bare fist occasionally the gladiator landed a few punches to his lower body, while this went on Aurelius was half-conscious as he lay there on the ground shuttering his eyes as he tried to keep them open eventually he fully went unconscious. While the fight kept on going Cyrus stopped amid the fight and stood over the unconscious gladiators before turning around and approaching Aurelius in a state of unconsciousness. Soon after the match came to an end and Cyrus was deemed the winner.

As Cyrus picked up Aurelius and looked around the arena he felt proud of himself upon the chants of the people who were rooting for him. Eventually, he made his way over to the underground labyrinth where other gladiators resided while waiting for their fight to come, Cyrus took Aurelius towards a secluded spot put him down on the floor, and got some water as he splashed it on his face causing to Aurelius to wake up. Upon waking up Cyrus looked at Aurelius and smiled at him.

“Great job out there, you helped me out in getting the upper hand on them once again.”

“It just felt like the right thing to do you know, I'm just glad I was able to help in some way or another.”

As the night wore on the two bonded together having a great time. Eventually, they had to part ways, but this was just the beginning of a mentoring relationship that the two would have never expected.

“Well I’ve got to go, but I’m glad I was able to experience something like this first hand and once again thank you, Cyrus.”

“Don't mention it, after all, you've earned it. I’ll see you around kid now take care.”

As time went on Cyrus and Aurelius grew close together like father and son, eventually Cyrus took Aurelius as one of his first students. While Aurelius had been under Cyrus’s care he would eventually teach him the basics before teaching him everything that he knew himself. 

Once Aurelius turned twenty-three years later he decided to join the gladiators and in doing so he climbed the ranks using every bit of knowledge that was taught to him by Cyrus himself eventually landing a fight with one of the top gladiators, Augustus the brute. All Aurelius truly wanted was to avenge the death of Cyrus and in doing so he would have to face the man who ended his life. 

While Aurelius sat in the now-familiar labyrinth he mentally prepared himself to avenge his mentor, as his name was called up he made his way to the gladiators’ pit where he would see one of the biggest audiences he had ever seen in the coliseum. Upon arriving at the pit Augustus himself stood there taking in the chants of his many fans. As soon as the fight began Augustus stood there motionless with no defense to himself, Aurelius decided to charge toward Augustus and as he did he was hurled back fifteen feet from Augustus it had happened so fast that Aurelius was unaware of what had happened. Aurelius got up and readied himself to fight as he made his way toward Augustus he picked up a handful of sand and threw it in Augustus’s eyes causing him to be temporarily blinded Aurelius took this opportunity to land a couple of hits with his bare fists, but before he had any time to get some distance he was already within Augustus grasp and he had no way of freeing himself. While Aurelius already felt like he was lost he was thrown into the limestone wall and as he made contact with the wall the air was knocked out of him causing him to squeal and gasp for air as he tried to crawl away Augustus set his foot on top of his back as he began to stomp him out and all he could hear was his foot connecting to his back and the sounds of his bones breaking upon impact on each stomp. Eventually, Augustus picked up Aurelius by his neck as he was in agony he couldn't help but groan not knowing this would be the last time he would feel, see, and taste. In an instant, Augustus tightened his grip on his neck before snapping it with little to no effort as Augustus let his body drop to the ground there stood what remained of Aurelius the now fallen like his mentor before him.