Commissioned by Leindurstit (https://www.furaffinity.net/user/leindurstit/)
Announcer voice acting by Leo Greystone (https://twitter.com/LeoGreystoneVA)
Sound design by MonsterChow (https://www.furaffinity.net/user/monsterchow/)

There's also a couple of alternate versions!

• Original: https://www.weasyl.com/~themonsterchow/submissions/2043360
• Arena POV: https://www.weasyl.com/~themonsterchow/submissions/2043365

PREMISE:
(Written by Leindurstit)

Life as a career thief in the Kingdom was never easy, but the spoils were enough to keep you going. Now though, with your rent rising faster than your income, it was time to branch out, orchestrating larger jobs in collaboration with others.

Unfortunately, your most recent undertaking backfired, resulting in not only the arrest of your accomplices, but you as well.

Your stay in the High Court was shorter than you expected. Your guilt for most every charge brought by the City Watch was indisputable, but you didn't expect your own lackeys to band together in pinning you as the center of two-dozen other crimes over the past few months.

In exchange for selling you out, your lackeys get off easy--a few decades of hard labor followed by exile from the Kingdom. Your sentence of death is not so forgiving, but there is a silver lining.

Instead of a simple trip to the headsman's block, you've been given the rare "opportunity" to fight one of the Kingdom's many resident dragons in an arena contest, during an upcoming festival devoted to them.

If you win, you go free as an exiled outlaw. If you lose, a gruesome spectacle would be assured, curiously exciting for the commoners to whom the sight of a dragon in combat was extraordinary, while grimly satisfying for the justice-seeking gentry in attendance.

TIMED NOTES:
1. (0:00 – 0:17) Escorted by a guard, you are led through a tunnel to the arena pit, clothed in nothing but cheap pants of sack cloth, your feet bare. At the end of the tunnel you are shoved into the arena by your escort, the gate shutting behind you.

(0:18 – 1:05) At the direction of the announcer, you take the provided long sword and wooden shield. Your dragon opponent, Gwirnarax the Black, greets his quarry from the other side of the arena with quite the roar. The massive gate at the far end of the arena from you opens, and the dragon enters the pit proper. The dragon shows themselves off to the crowd as they emerge, paying more attention to them than the announcer, only giving you his attention properly after the rules for the engagement are explained.

(1:06 – 1:28) The dragon closes the distance to you and immediately engages with a few swipes of his foreclaws. He almost seems to be toying with you, but one such attack connects with your wooden shield, smashing it to bits. The dragon attacks with outstretched claws again, aiming to strike you this time, but you execute an effective parry and riposte with your sword, the dragon howling in pain and recoiling at your surprise counter-attack.

(1:29 – 1:45) Now angered and done toying with his quarry, the dragon delivers a lightning-quick sweep with a splayed forepaw that promptly connects with you, sending you tumbling across the dirt arena pit floor, your sword clanging off in the distance somewhere you can’t exactly place. You get to your feet quickly enough to see the dragon a fair distance from you. Now disarmed, you make a break for the massive gate from where the dragon emerged, the bars looking sparse enough to the point where you may be able to slip through and sneak away. Certainly it’s a better plan than sitting here utterly defenseless!

(1:45 – 2:12) The dragon gives chase, the thumping of his steps growing loud very quickly as he catches up to you in short order. The first attempt to grab you in his jaws misses, but as you reach the gate the dragon’s jaws bear down on you, snapping you up off the ground as his teeth lock into your waist, your legs dangling from his jaws. While firmly held within the dragon’s jaws, you find yourself being paraded around the arena floor as the creature shows off his catch to the intrigued audience. You may give a cursory kick and struggle to try to dislodge yourself, but it is quite impossible to part the massive jaws.

(2:13 – 2:26) The dragon settles back in the center of the arena, before rumbling and gripping you tighter still, his head dipping down. Then, he sharply flicks his head skyward as he lets you go, sending you tumbling into the air. Your brief amount of air time is over in only a few dizzying seconds, you finding yourself caught fully within the dragon’s jaws now, teeth clacking shut as you are utterly defeated. The crowd seems to approve of the dragon’s theatrics.

(2:27 – 2:55) The dragon continues to saunter about the arena as the spectators admire his small bit of showmanship. Meanwhile, the dragon slathers you up nicely, before tipping his head back and swallowing powerfully, the especially-curious members of the crowd cheering the creature on as he sends another criminal to the doom of his insides.

(2:56 – 3:16) You travel down the dragon’s throat, mercilessly crushes and squished down their neck until eventually you spill out into their stomach below. The cheering of the crowd and announcer grow more muffled as you pass through the dragon’s well-insulated depths.

(3:17 – 4:12) You sway from side to side as the dragon paces about the arena pit for one last victory lap, his adoring fans continuing to cheer him on. The sound of the massive gate from whence the dragon came opens, and they proceed to the arena’s underworks.

(4:13 – 4:42) The dragon passes through the service tunnels connecting various equipment store rooms and workshops. Arena staff, animal handlers, and officials can be heard, in addition to an assortment of livestock. One of the workers stops to ask the dragon how the show went, to which the dragon responds with a hearty belch, more than enough of an answer for the crew.

(4:43 – 5:04) Continuing through the corridors of the underworks, the dragon passes by additional pens for feed animals—animals typically used to keep the dragons fed before and after their performances. Not a concern today...

(5:05 – 5:15) The dragon reaches their quieter private quarters of the arena underworks. After a hearty yawn, they roll to their side, patting their occupied underside a few times before starting to snooze off their meal.

(5:16 – 8:07) The insides of the dragon get to work properly coating you in gastric fluids, the process ramping up in intensity and excruciation over the next few minutes.

(8:08 – fin) Overwhelmed by the churning acrid fluids, you collapse forward, unable to keep your head above the rising level of fluid. Mercifully, you pass out shortly after.