Scifi
LMSP- The Vault

1
The brainchild of the joint coalition, The Vault was a twisted experiment in rehabilitation through combat. Inmates, stripped of their names and identities, fought for their lives in televised deathmatches, their skills honed and exploited for the entertainment of the masses. It was a grim spectacle, a reflection of humanity's baser instincts, and it was wildly popular.
For those who survived, The Vault offered a twisted form of ascension. A chance to rise through the ranks, to claim the canopy rooms and the perverse luxuries that came with them. But for every winner, there were countless losers, their bodies broken and discarded, their memories erased from the annals of history.
I stepped out into the arena, my eyes drawn upwards to the curved windows that wrapped around the upper tier of the colossal structure. The Earth hung suspended in the blackness, a blue and white marble, taunting me with its proximity and inaccessibility. The windows, more like screens, displayed the planet in crystal clarity, a reminder of what I'd lost. The facade of the arena, a twisted homage to the ancient Greek Coliseum, loomed above me, its grandeur mocking my insignificance.
The 'windows' were a cruel joke, protected by a latticework of forcefields that shimmered with an otherworldly energy. The technology was designed to ricochet any would-be escapees, sending them careening back into the arena, broken and defeated. I'd heard the screams of those who'd tried, the sickening crunch of bone and flesh as they were repelled by the unyielding barrier.
The guards, hulking monoliths in exoskeleton armor, watched me with cold indifference. Their eyes, obscured by tinted visors, seemed to bore into my soul, daring me to make a wrong move. They were the enforcers, the arbiters of life and death, and they wouldn't hesitate to take me out if I didn't give them a show...