First came the voices.

They swirled around the back of my mind like a soft breeze rustling the hair on the back of my neck. It didn't help that I was already spooked as it was, the link that had tied Peridot and I's life had quite apparently worn off after the anthem had strung it's usual haunting chords, echoing around the nighttime silence of the arena.

I had known I was screwed as soon as I repositioned myself on the damp soil of the rose garden and accidently pricked myself on a fallen branch. It had been only a slight pain compared to the wounds that wracked the rest of my body, but it had been enough to catch Peridot's eye. I don't think I will ever forget that fate defining moment when she had glanced down at her ankle that was clean of the small droplet of blood that stained mine and let out a coy laugh. "Oh." She had said simply, her eyes meeting mine for an agonizingly long second that sent chills up my spine.

So now we played the game of who would strike first; the spine tingling, mind wracking, stomach knotting game that was going to drive me over the edge. I didn't want to kill her but I was also scared to turn my back on her to leave. I was trapped.

I was about ready to give up and just take my chances, telling Peridot that I was going to look for firewood when the voices had started. They were faint, so faint I couldn't even decipher what they were saying. "Peridot!" I whispered harshly, "Do you hear that?"

She looked up at me from her work of sharpening her sword, "Hear what?" She demanded furrowing her brow in confusion. Her eyes bore into me like acid, muscles going rigid as her hand moved to the hilt of her sword.

I opened my mouth to reply when suddenly noise erupted in my left ear. 'Come with me! Come with me, North!' The voice screamed ripping at my head like nails on a chalkboard. I screamed falling away from the noise onto my side and clutching my hands to my ears that now felt as though a hot liquid were seeping from them. "Blood." I choked in terror without even looking. I couldn't bring myself to look.

I'm not sure how I saw it, everything else around me was so loud, but a sharp glimmer of reflective light caught my eye. Frantically I rolled out of the way as Peridot's silver sword crashed into the dirt beside me. The soft soil flew into the air on impact, twisting and morphing before my eyes into jagged shards of glass. I barely processed it though as I kicked blindly at Peridot's legs as to give myself enough time to stand up.

My foot barreled into her knees and she collapsed backward into the thorny embrace of a rose bush. Panting I struggled to my feet, the world around me blurring only to refocus as if I was peering through smoke. What was going on? It was like I was on drugs! I don't do drugs! I shook my head, it didn't matter. What mattered now was not letting Peridot kill me. I forced myself to focus long enough grab my sword through the delirium that swirled around my head like a riptide trying to pull me every which way. I charged Peridot's body that was still cradled in arms of the rose bush. I braced myself, I didn't want to kill her but I was going to have to. It was me or her and I was selfish.

I didn't make it to where she lay through because she looked up. I froze in my tracks as not two, but six eyes glowered at me. I strangled gasp of terror left my mouth as I gazed at the two extra heads that had sprouted from her neck. There was a gurgling noise as she stood up and the heads began to rip themselves from her body, first a two separate shoulders extended from the torsors, then arms and legs. I should have killed her then while I had the chance, but I just stood there utterly intoxicated by shock.

Suddenly I felt a freezing cold hand on my arm, I raised my sword spinning around to see a short girl with a straight nose and long dark hair riddled with flowers. Her blue-green eyes locked on mine as she stared at me with urgency, "North! Dad's mad. What did you do?" She cried in horror.

I blinked at her. Rivana. This was Rivana, I realized. I had no idea how I knew, it was like something in my brain just clicked. Rivana yanked on my arm fiercely, "You have to get out of here before he comes home! Please!" I almost grinned as I realized she was my sister. I did grin as I realized that I had a sister. A warm tingly sensation filled my chest accompanied with confusion in my head. I opened my mouth to ask her what she meant but that was when the sword impaled my shoulder.

Pain radiated through my body as I spun around swinging my sword at Peridot's neck. It went right through her as if she was no more than air. She was a hallucination... they all were. My eyes focused on the army of her clones that loomed behind her. Only one of them could be the real Peridot. I took a step back as they all smiled devilishly in perfect synchronization and angled their swords at me as if they were a symphony of death moving to the rhythm of a song I'd never hear.

They didn't give me a second to process all of that before all of them were on me, swinging with a barbaric madness. I tried to block them, the blades just whooshed through me as if they were only a cool breeze. Panic coursed through me like a river. One of these blades were real and it was going to destroy me if I didn't destroy it first.

I ducked out of the way of one blade and into the path of another. A sharp pain ripped across the outermost layer of my skin as the blade I had dodged grazed my skin. There it was. That was it. Instinct took over and my arms shot up grabbing her arm, I twisted my shoulder underneath her elbow and flipped her over my head. She cried out and all her doppelgangers melted to the earth like sand.

"Help!" The high pitched voice cut into my ears like a dagger. I looked up sharply to see Rivana reaching toward me in desperation, the skin upon her face decaying rapidly, maggots appeared on her skin crawling from her nose and mouth. "Help me..." Her voice repeated, deeper and more hoarse.

Peridot let out a ferocious growl as she got to get knees and threw herself at my legs tackling me to the ground. I cried out as my body crashed into the ground and Peridot's dirty hands grasped my neck. She opened her mouth and a snake tongue curled outwards, gently brushing my cheek. "Time to say goodnight." She said in a reptilian voice, scales starting to pop out of her skin.

Adrenalin radiated through every vein of my body, infecting me completely. "No." I choked bucking my hips and rolling her weight off of me. Gasping, I reached for my sword that lay a few feet away. My fingers curled around the dirty handle and I swung it around toward Peridot's body that was still sprawled on the dirt only for it to meet her sword with a loud crash.

The night hardly begun and I was already losing my mind. "Didn't think I'd be that easy, did you?" She hissed, a determined smile stretching across her face as she pressed against my blade with all her might. I pushed back, slowly drawing my leg out from under me as to not catch her attention.

And then I struck, thrusting my boot into her neck. A devastating crunch filled my ears as her arms went slack and her blade fell to the ground beside her. I let out a long breath, trying to ignore the guilt in my chest as I got to my feet. I didn't dare look at the dead corpse, I couldn't face what I had done. I wrapped my arms around my chest pinching my eyes shut. These games were proving to me that I wasn't the person I thought I was. I wasn't humane. I wasn't brave. I wasn't unmovable. I wasn't strong.

I was simply a desperate coward grasping at his life.