The Crimson Era

Chapter 7: The Rules of the Game

About two hours after her encounter with Nik and Matt, Azriel had gone back to her cabin to find her cabin mates still asleep, and was finally able to catch a quick nap.

"Azriel, wake up", whispered Julia. "You were right."

Rolling over, she could tell that it was a mistake having done a second run through of her workout. Abs aching, she sat up. Looking up at Julia, she could see pure terror in her eyes.

"What do you mean I was right?"
"Cain sent a letter to our cabin this morning saying that we were going to the arena today. He also said that he would explain everything at the mess hall during breakfast. We should get going, Laurel and Kaia are already down there; Laurel said that she would save us seats."

Leaving Azriel tired, dreadful, and panicking, Julia began to change into her day clothes. Soon following, Azriel began to put on her signature fighting outfit, assuming the worst. It consisted of a pair of black leather leggings, chosen for their durability and protection, a black long sleeve shirt, a black vest made out of the same material as jeans, black boots that came up to the bottom of her knees, and the waist strap attached to the sheath of her sword. Slipping on her cloak and brass knuckles just in case, she headed out with Julia.

"Nice outfit. Are the pants leather?"
"Thanks, and yeah, they are. I find that they're more durable, comfortable, and easier to move in; perfect for fights."
"I wish that I'd brought better clothing. I'm sure that your clothes will do you well."
"I sure hope so."

Arriving at the mess hall, they entered into the room, only to be greeted by a ruckus of chatter. Looking for Laurel, they made their way through the crowd pushing and shoving.

"Azriel! Julia! Over here!"

Across the room, Julia spotted Laurel jumping up and down while simultaneously waving her hand in the air. Slowly making it through the sea of people, they finally made it to the other side.

"Now I understand why you can't stand Kaia; she wouldn't stop talking about herself on the way over and I had to ditch her when we got through the doors to hide over here."

Before Azriel could reply, a familiar and loud voice shouted from the front of the room that everybody needed to sit down and shut up. Looking up, she saw Cain, along with two other men behind him, one standing on each side.

"Today, as you should all know from the letter that I sent you this morning, is the beginning of the tournaments. As I can tell, all of you are confused, so allow me to explain. As you all know, there are 80 of you here in this establishment and I will be pairing each of you up into one on one battles against each other in the Arena. Each battle, will result in a death, or maybe two depending on the people.

As the battles progress, it will be narrowed down further and further until a total of 6 of you leave this ordeal alive to go back to living your life as normal, or mostly normal, citizens. Your pairs and what day you'll be fighting will be posted outside of the mess hall by the time you've all been dismissed. The sheet will be updated when the are 40 left, 20 left, 10 left, and then the final 6 who will be released. There will be two duels per day. If you fail to show up, you will be executed in front of everybody as an example. Now, do any of you have questions?"

This statement was followed by complete silence and the irradication of all movement except for Cain and the two men behind him leaving the dining hall.

Let the games begin.