[ WP ] In an attempt to curb violence , humans grow `` blank '' humans with no cognitive brain function to be killed in a physical bloodsport . You just become self aware as a man comes at you .

I sprang back up after the last of the jolts had left my body, waiting for my opponent to come at me head on. 
 
 That electric fence was new, I had n't seen it in the previous games and who knows how I was still standing right now. 
 
 A primal part of my head recoiled at the thoughts that just passed through my mind. Language, syntax, object naming, how on earth did I just think what I just thought? I suddenly became aware of the fact that I was a small insignificant being standing on a dusty rock floating out in the infinite darkness, whilst becoming acutely uncomfortable with the idea of standing in the middle of a populated arena clad in only a loincloth to hide my shame. 
 
 I looked down at my hands, and looked back up. The man lunged at me with a makeshift spear and the thoughts faded suddenly, as my arms sprang into action and grabbed the weapon in mid-air using the momentum to flip my opponent onto the.... my head hurt again, what were these thoughts that my mind was somehow stringing together. 
 
 The man slapped back-first into the ground as I disarmed him, and that should have been my moment right there to go in for the kill and finish him off. Instead I just stared at him numbly, seeing a reflection of myself in his eyes. 
 
 I am this dumb brute I see before me. I *was* this dumb brute I see before me. I was different now, and he could see it too - trying to get a read off my body language and finding only silence. He was n't sure whether to charge or flee, and instead just squirmed on the spot waiting for me to make a move. 
 
 Why me? Why now? I was n't anything special, and here I was now standing at the edge of the pit, profoundly aware of my existence. I suddenly feared for my mortality, feared for everyone's. 
 
 I dropped the spear in confusion and took a step back, and that was all my opponent needed to see as he flew for my neck and muscled me to the ground. I could feel my airways constricting as he gripped hard, but I poked him in the eye and he relented for a moment giving me enough time to slip out of his grip, but not enough time to dodge a blow to the face which I oddly saw coming but somehow was n't quick enough to avoid. 
 
 This was going to end one way or another, and I realised that I wanted to live more than I wanted him to not die. 
 
 I staggered backwards towards the perimeter, feigning weakness, and he took the bait - throwing a kick forward that offbalanced him when I dodged, and then it was a small matter to sweep him off his feet altogether and throw him into the fence. 
 
 He twitched before he hit the ground but then lay limp. He was dead, or so I thought until I saw his arm come up as he tried to steady himself back onto his feet. 
 
 I grabbed a rock, prepared to smash his head in if it really came to it, but he suddenly looked up at me and I realised that something was n't the same. I lowered the rock.
