"Each contestant shall fight in the Trial of Strength. The winner of each individual match will advance, while the losers will face off. The last one standing wins, while the weakest three are eliminated from the Trials. The winner of the Strength Trial will be the recipient of an advantage in the next Trial."
               -Ignus Smart's Book of Law

The night after the feast, I can't sleep. I mean...how can I? I don't know enough about this competition I'm about to undertake. Not enough by far. This is absolutely ridiculous.

Throwing off the heavy blankets tucked in firmly around me, I purposefully stride to the centre of the room. I have to practise. I have to do something. Because now the stakes are so much higher if I lose.

Clenching my jaw tightly, a small ball of white hot flame appears. I feed off of it-letting it give me power, letting it give me strength. It travels up my arms, and then down my legs until I am engulfed in the fire.
And let me tell you-it sure as heck feels good.
There is no way that I am the slightest bit prepared for this competition. But I'll be damned if I don't give it my best shot.

Suddenly exhausted, I extinguish my flame and flop lazily onto my soft, king sized bed. The patterned ceiling swirls around in hypnotizing, rich colours-matching my moods. Tonight, there is purple and blue in every hue. It is a beautiful sight, but it makes me feel homesick. I miss home. I miss Killia. I miss our ragged hut of a home, overlooking a huge river that flows through the city. I miss my Aunt Marsha, who would always have a cup of tea ready for me the mornings. I wonder what they're doing now...just the two of them. Do they miss me? Do they even know what happened to me? Surely, they must have seen me on the holographic television earlier tonight. They must be just as confused as I am, if not more.

I wonder if I'll ever see either of them again.

Suddenly unable to stare at the hypnotic colours on my ceiling, I shut my eyes tightly, trying to think of other things. Anything else, besides this.

Happy things. Happy things.

I think of the stories my mother used to tell me-the fairytales with their happy endings. I could certainly do with a happy ending at the moment. But all I can do right now is sleep. I'm going to need to be well rested and alert for the Trials. So I relax-awaiting the blissful relief of sleep.
..............................................................

After a long and restless night, I am awaken at the crack of dawn by Quintus.

"Get up Elixir....it's time." He whispers, shaking me awake roughly.

"I'm sleeping," I growl, my voice hoarse and surprisingly grumpy as I roll away from Quintus and bury my face into one of the many pillows strewn across my bed.

I am not a morning person.

I hear Quintus sigh, slamming the door angrily as he exits the room. Good. I don't want him here anyways. I just want to be left alone. I'm terrified. For what seems like the millionth time, I wonder how the heck I got myself into this mess.

This sucks. Seriously, it does.

All of a sudden, I'm up-screaming and jumping hysterically as ice cold water drips down my back, making me shiver violently. Quintus can't help but look smug, holding the now empty bucket of water that he just dumped all over me.

"What the-" I advance on him angrily, about to give him a real piece of my mind, but he cuts me off.

"I'm the only shot you have at winning this thing. Starting right now, you need to do what I say." He sighs, retreating away from me, towards the door.

He has a good point. But although I do have to listen to Quintus, I don't have to like it.

"Where are you going?" I call after him as he continues towards the door. Without bothering to look at me, he shouts at me to stay put before slamming the door behind him.

Why did I have to be assigned with that old grump? Why couldn't my Kindred have been a cute boy instead of that dodgy old man. Falling dramatically onto my bed once more, I think about all of the not-so-nice names I would like to call Quintus. Although I usually have a rule about being nice to others, Quintus is definitely an exception to that rule.

As I'm about halfway down the list, (pig breath ugly swine) a timid knock at the door rouses me from the depths of my cruel imagination. Great. Maybe my jerk of a Kindred is back to bother me some more. I don't bother to get off of my bed, but the door opens anyways. A bored looking girl comes in, carrying an armful of clothes.

"Here you are," she says, handing me the fabrics, "you can change into these."

Her face is long, and she has dark circles under her eyes. She doesn't particularly look like she wants to be here right now. I can't blame her. Wordlessly, I turn from her, and quickly skim on the clothes. I can feel her eyes on me while I change, and I almost feel a little less human. The clothes themselves are alright-black, stretchy jumpsuit type of a thing with red stripes, but I still feel like I'm going to throw up any second. My nerves are going wild right now.

I turn around, sitting down in a nearby chair with a loud thump. The girl who gave me the clothes comes and stands behind me-hairbrush in hand. Once my hair is in a decent ponytail, I am ushered out of my room in a flurry-bouncing from person to person. Cameras follow me everywhere tracking my every move. I wonder if the other contestants are as freaked out as I am.

Probably.

I am ushered into a small room, and it gets quiet, really fast. All of my competitors are here-sitting on benches quietly. Nobody is socializing-everybody is keeping to themselves. Some of them fiddle with their hands, while some of them sit as still as a stone-staring straight ahead. I see Laura, her hair tied back. I make a move to go sit with her, but then I stop. She did act strange last night at dinner, and it might be weird if I go and sit with her. Before I can back away however, she notices me, and with a weak smile, beckons me over. Gingerly, I sit next to her, returning her smile with a grimace of my own.

"Are you as nervous as I am?" She mutters, bouncing her knee up and down.

"More!" I sigh, and we both break out in nervous laughter that dies quicker then it started. We sit there for a tense awkward second before she grabs my hand comfortingly.

"You'll be ok." She whispers. I look back at her, as a swarm of gratefulness ripples through me.

"Thanks. We'll both get through this alright?" I respond. Laura smiles genuinely and nods. I'm not going to lie, but I do feel a little bit better then I had previously. This is going to be ok.

"Attention competitors, welcome to the first Trial....the Trial of strength." A bored looking official stands at the front of the stage, his voice, loud and projecting around the room.

"The rules of this Trial are simple. You'll be paired with a partner to fight. You'll fight until one of the pair is knocked out, or gives up. The winners will fight each other, the losers will fight each other, tournament style. The overall winner will gain an advantage, and the bottom three losers will be eliminated. Got it?"

A murmur of ascendance rises as we mutter our agreement. The rules seem pretty simple. All I have to do is make sure I beat one person. I just have to fight one person to stay in this competition. That's doable.

The doors open, and the people around me begin to stand. Slowly, I rise to my feet as well, and nervously ring out my hands. It's ok. This will all be ok.

I can't waste any more time. With a heavy heart and shaking hands, I stride towards the doors, doing my best to look fierce.

I'm terrified. I'm not ready for this. But then again, are you ever really ready for something like this?

So I walk out of the room, leaving my fears and my nerves behind.

I'm going to win. No matter the cost.

A/N

Hey guys! I'm sorry that I've been away for a while....thanks for sticking with me! Until next time!
-a_person66