by J. B. North
“You don't eat,” Roselle answered from behind me.
“That, and you get to feel the pain of whatever kills you,” Liana added. “They made it like that so it would be more like real life.”
“I've always wanted to feel the pain of dying,” I muttered sarcastically.
“Alright, let's get going,” Natalia said, taking charge once again. “Liana, you head to the forest. Roselle, you go to the left. I'll go to the right, and Ivy, you'll head for the volcano.”
I wanted to protest, but Natalia's eyes flashed in a challenge. I suddenly felt the need to show her that I was brave and that I was capable of doing dangerous things. I nodded sharply and turned to walk toward the volcano.
It was a monster of a mountain, looming silently in the smoky air, just waiting for the chance to release its wrath once again. It's land mounded into a sharp incline, and at the top, the smoke was so heavy that it took on the appearance of storm clouds.
I swallowed, trying not to let fear consume my thoughts.
I looked back once to see that Natalia, Liana, and Roselle had already started on their separate paths just as I had. I was on my own now.
I walked forward for a little while until I noticed that the smell of burning flesh was getting more and more rancid. Only a few feet in front of me lay a dead deer. There was no doubt that it had been dead for days by the smell of it. It was probably caught in the eruption.
I knew that it was far too gone to be food, so I edged my way past it, trying not to look at its singed body or unseeing eyes. I didn't know what happened if I got unsuitable food, but I certainly didn't want to find out.
I picked up my pace and kept walking until I came across the first stream of lava. It oozed slowly downhill, almost ready to crawl to a stop and form new rock. Seeing it made me want to turn around and head back to the safety of the forest, but I kept going. The others knew more about the survival test than I did, and they hadn't turned back.
Then, farther up the mountain, I saw a goat, its shaggy white fur tangled and singed at the ends. It was moving, wandering around the streams of melted rock. I tried to stay quiet as I followed it. It nimbly avoided every obstacle in its path, whereas I had a much harder time climbing the mountain without getting burned.
I didn't want to kill it, but hunger propelled me forward. I wished I had a bow and arrow so that I could end it quickly.
Almost immediately a bow appeared in my hands and a quiver of arrows materialized on my back, startling me. The sudden movement caught the mountain goat's attention, and it looked back at me, frozen in fear. That was my chance.
I'd never shot a bow and arrow before, but in Forlander, we would sometimes get to watch archery contests. I was fascinated with the weapon, and had studied the way that the contestants stood and the position of their hands.
It climbed higher on the hill before turning to look at me again, outlined against the sun.
I pulled an arrow out of the quiver and knocked it on the bow, pulling the string back as far as I could and aiming for the goat's heart. I let it loose. The arrow sailed true, and in an instant, the goat completely disappeared, its cry still echoing through the air. I hurried to where it was, but there was no sign of it anywhere. Then, my vision clouded and the test was over.
Natalia, Roselle, Liana, the trainer, and I were all sitting inside the tent at a table. On each of our plates, except the trainer’s of course, there was some salted beef, some fruit, some bread, and some cheese, all in a tiny portion.
“So who got the food?” asked Roselle glumly.
“The only one who succeeded today,” the trainer said around a huge bite of a buttered roll. “—was Ivy.” She swallowed once, but continued chewing. “Strange how she’s the only one to get something when this is only her second time. She didn’t even change into her second form,” she said in a much clearer voice, although still muffled.
All the girls turned to look at me. “What did you get?” Natalia asked.
“I didn't even know that I shot it,” I answered. “But I'd aimed at a mountain goat before it disappeared.”
She seemed impressed. “Well, good work,” she said with a nod.
The meal ended too quickly, but the hunger pangs were gone at least.
The ending bell rang and we went out of the tent. “Now what are we going to do?” I asked, having an idea of what it was, but not completely sure.
Liana answered first. “Time to train,” she said cheerfully.
I couldn't believe that she was excited about it. “How long have you been here, Liana?” I asked.
“About a year and a half. But every day I’m getting better.”
This time, instead of the line of students heading to the left, they headed to the right, toward the slightly intimidating arena.
I noticed that some students were lagging behind, dreading the moment they stepped foot in the expansive training ground. Although I wanted to join them, I kept up with Roselle and Liana. A few people got between us, making me feel a little anxious. Natalia had already disappeared somewhere ahead.
As soon as I stepped foot in the arena, I was snatched out of the stream of people and thrown to the ground.
CHAPTER SIX
The wind had been knocked out of me, but I fought to get back on my feet, staring my challenger in the face with malice as I tried to catch my breath. It was the same boy, the one with the thick blond eyebrows, the one who said that he would be looking for me in the arena.
I hadn’t known that he’d meant it that way, otherwise I would’ve been more watchful.
“I challenge you,” he said, a vicious smile spread over his face.
“Why?” I asked angrily. “I don’t have anything you’d want.”
He laughed. “I want victory over you. That’s all I have to want.”
He pushed me back with his hands, causing me to bump right into somebody.
“What do you think you’re doing, Grix?” growled a voice behind me. I turned my head to look at the voice, and was relieved to see Kurt.
Grix’s face paled. “I—I’m challenging her, sir.”
“To win what?” he asked, his scars pulled taut from the tension in his face.
“Just to win…I guess. Sir,” he answered, shuffling his feet nervously.
Kurt looked at me, and then back at the boy. “She accepts.”
My eyes widened. “What?” I demanded.
Kurt ignored me. “You fight after break,” he said, his tight expression changing into an easy smile. He hit Grix on the back twice before leading me away. Some of the students were already training, while others were still coming in behind me.
I looked back at Grix, who was staring at us like a lost puppy. If only he would look like that in the challenge.
“How am I going to beat anyone? I don’t even know what a challenge is!” I said as I followed him through the tents. We stopped at one of them where practice swords were laid out on a table. Kurt grabbed two and threw one to me. I caught the handle.
“Nice reflexes,” he said. “And the answer to your previous question—you don’t have to.”
“What?” I asked, stunned. “What do you mean I don’t have to? I’ll get pulverized!”
He shrugged. “All you have to get from a challenge is a lesson. You’ll recover if you get hurt.” He paused to look back at me. “Pain is a great teacher as well.”
I sighed. “Yes, just like hunger.”
We came out of the tents into a fenced-in area where some of the other students were practicing with swords. I saw January among them. Her sword was long and sharp, much unlike my wooden one. Her trainer struggled to keep up with her flashing blade.
I swallowed hard as she cut her trainer’s arm, causing the sleeve to rip. Crimson soaked the fabric.
The trainer called off the practice, and they went off the field, January with a triumphant glint in her eye. She caught sight of me and smirked, taking in my wooden sword.
Before I knew what was happening, something hard ha
d hit me in back of my knee, and I crumpled to the ground, staring up dazedly at Kurt.
I formed my gaze into a scowl as I hurried to get back on my feet. “Why did you do that?” I asked, embarrassed. “I wasn’t ready.”
“Ah,” said Kurt with a smile, “but you must always be ready.”
He swung the sword again, so fast that I could barely see it. I tried to block it with my own, but it didn’t work. My sword was flung to the side and Kurt’s was held to my throat in an instant.
“If I were an enemy, you’d be dead. Even with this wooden sword.” He lowered his weapon and rested the tip on the ground, gesturing for me to pick mine up. I eyed him warily, making sure he wouldn’t trick me as I bent over.
“Now let’s try again, but this time, we’ll do it in slow motion, so that I can teach you how to block properly.”
He swung his sword while telling me how to position mine. “If you strike it like this,” he said. “You can disarm your opponent...if they aren't strong enough, that is.”
We went on like that for what seemed like hours, until Kurt finally decided that he was getting nowhere and we moved on to a different weapon.
We tried the bow and arrow, the knife, and even the staff, but I didn't have much luck with any of them. Although I had had luck in the survival test with the bow, only two arrows out of ten hit the target. With the knife, the key was to be fast, but I was far from that so far. The staff was so large and clumsy that I hit myself in the head with it several times.
Finally, the bell rang, signaling that it was time to eat. It reminded me that I had a fight against Grix afterward, and although I had been hungry previously, I now only felt sick.
All the students stopped their activities, and started to migrate toward the dining hall. I was one of the first among them because the field we were practicing in was close to the exit.
I sat at an empty table in the dining hall where there was already bread and cheese set out. It wasn’t much, but it was food. I took a piece of bread and nibbled on it even though I felt sick.
Liana was the first to come and sit with me. She took in the look on my face with a concerned expression. “What’s wrong?” she inquired quietly. “Your face is pale.”
I shook my head. “It’s just that…I have to fight in a challenge after this.”
Liana was taken aback. “But this is only your first day! Does your trainer know about this?”
“He’s the one that said yes,” I answered, exasperated.
She looked like an owl, her eyes were so wide. “Who is your trainer?”
“Kurt,” I said, wondering why that mattered.
She nodded. “That explains things.”
Roselle came out of nowhere to perch on the edge of her seat. “I heard that you are going to fight in a challenge today,” she whispered.
“Yes,” I said. “We were just talking about it.”
“Did you know that her trainer is Kurt?” asked Liana suddenly.
Roselle nodded. “I saw her come out of the first tent yesterday.” She stared at me for a minute. “I really wish I could figure out your second form...”
I was on the brink of telling them, but then January came and sat down in the extra chair.
“Yes,” she said. “I agree with Roselle. We would all love to know.”
Roselle and even Liana glared at her.
“Well that’s too bad,” I said. “—because I'd rather keep it to myself.”
January smiled, but she managed to make it seem menacing. “What a pity. I’m very disappointed.”
I gritted my teeth. “Yes, I bet you are,” I muttered.
“I would sit with you, but I wouldn't want to keep you from preparing for your challenge. I hope it goes better for you than it did for the girl last week that lost her thumb.” With that, she walked off to a different table with a few other hostile-looking faces.
“I wish she'd go ahead and graduate,” Roselle grumbled. “I want to be rid of her already.”
“Is there any way that that could happen?” I asked.
Roselle shook her head. “We have no choice but to wait it out unless they move her up to a level ten. I'm surprised she hasn't been given a quest yet.”
We were quiet as we ate the rest of the food on the table. I never saw Natalia enter the room.
When our tray had been empty for some time, the bell rang again, and we were on our feet, headed back to the arena. I was a little out of it, and it seemed like a flash before I was standing in front Kurt beside a fenced in area. “Try to postpone changing for as long as you can,” he drilled. “You’ll want him to think that you’re weak, and perhaps can’t remember how to change. Try to remember what I told you with the weapons, but overall, moving is essential. Stay out of reach. And most importantly, stay away from the fence…at all costs.”
I nodded, trying to memorize everything he’d said. “I’ll try,” I answered.
His face darkened. “No. You will.”
“I-I will, then,” I answered awkwardly.
He led me around to the tall gate that matched the height of the towering fence. Grix was already standing there, his former look of shame replaced with a look of pride.
He seemed as if he’d been working out all morning because his muscles bulged beneath the thin white shirt that he wore. He looked taller and bulkier, obviously in half form. I took off my coat, shivering with the sudden chill that leached away the warmth from my limbs.
I probably looked pathetic. A skinny girl, only 5’3”, standing up against a tall, broad-shouldered boy. I was going to be crushed.
We were led into the arena by Mrs. Scarls. She took us to the center where, like the trial arena, a circle was formed. Grix took his stance at one side and Mrs. Scarls pointed to where I was supposed to stand. To my right, and Grix’s left, there was a table set up with all sorts of weapons.
“You are to wait until my command before you start. To first three wounds or until your opponent goes unconscious. Under no circumstances should either of you die, or there will be severe consequences for the killer, accident or no,” she said. She left us standing there, Grix glaring at me, and me watching her like a frightened mouse as she got farther and farther away.
The gate creaked and then slammed shut. My heart echoed the slamming over and over in my ringing ears as I struggled to breathe. In my panic, I remembered Ayon and Elna and my old life. What I would do to go back! Thinking about them helped me inhale and exhale.
There was silence, and then suddenly the shouted command, “Go!”
Grix lunged toward me, blocking me from the table. I scrambled back just before he would’ve plowed me into the ground. Shouts and jeers sounded from the sidelines, but I ignored them. My only thought right now was to steer clear of Grix. He grabbed a spear, and came toward me again.
I dodged around him every time he sprang forward, and started to feel a little better about my chance of not dying. However, it was only a matter of time before he began to change. He grew before my eyes until he stood with his shoulders five feet wide, and his height twice as tall. There was a ripping sound as his shirt split down the middle and fell to the ground. To everyone’s relief—especially my own—his pants stayed on, as they were made of a stretchy material.
The spear now seemed more like a mere twig in his beefy hand. I swallowed hard and dashed away. He could step on me, and I would die like an unfortunate ant trying to scurry out from underneath the shadow of a boot.
He raced after me, the ground shaking as he gained on me, and while he was getting closer, I noticed a little too late, so was the fence. Without meaning to, I got trapped against it, and I was suddenly staring up in horror right into Grix’s eyes. He smiled a grotesque smile, and lunged toward me one final time.
For a moment, the hourglass of life seemed to have pity on me, and everything slowed. I imagined what I always did when I wanted to change. The sun beating down on my grateful face, the glimmer of the morning frost and the melting snow.
<
br /> The sensation of changing was welcome now, and the bright light shone, something I noticed didn’t happen when other people changed.
Grix stumbled back, momentarily stunned, blinking rapidly and trying to regain his vision. It was all the time I needed. I lifted my wings and launched myself into the air.
I sailed down at Grix, catching the side of his face with my talons. He reached up, feeling the cut as if in disbelief. I circled around his head, hitting the back of it as hard as I could. My talons drew blood once again. He stumbled forward. Only one more scratch, and I would win. This seemed to help him out of his stupor. He twisted around, glaring at me, and I knew I would have to be more careful.
I dove down once more when I thought his back was turned, and screeched as a strong hand clamped down on my wing. Grix threw me to the ground and pinned me under his foot.
“It ends now,” he growled. He lifted his spear.
In a moment of panic, I went with the bird’s instincts. Flames churned in my stomach, and a burst of fire blasted out of my beak, scorching both the spear and Grix.
He cried out and dropped the spear, clutching his charred hand.
The throng of people went silent. In fact, now that the fight was over, I noticed that they had been for some time. Niko was standing in the front, just short of the fence, wearing a disturbing smile on his face. I tried to ignore him.
After a moment, some voices started to mutter amongst themselves, and then whole crowd erupted into chatter. “The fight is finished!” shouted Mrs. Scarls finally. “The victor is Ivy Oliver, three strikes to zero!”
Grix shrunk until he was back to his normal size. His hand was still injured despite his changing. I changed back also, annoyed by the inconvenient red dress that dragged in the mud.
I glanced back over at Grix, taken aback by a look of respect in his eyes. He went over and stuck out his left hand for me to shake, seeing as I had burnt his right one. “Good fight,” he said. “It seems as if you caught me off guard.”
I didn’t say anything back, but I did shake his hand. I remembered that Natalia had said not to trust anyone. That they would all try to get on my good side. Grix might be one of those people now that he saw what I was.
