Glisteen felt her heart drop. She felt hopeless, a hollow feeling in her chest. Glisteen was used to making the best of things, and or fixing things with or without violence. But how could she fix this? Nothing was under her control here. Glisteen wasn't much of a hugging person, but this time was an exception. She took Sinlivbie gently into her arms, a friendly hug. When Glisteen released her, she held onto Sinlivbie's shoulders.

"Hey, we'll figure this out. It was going to happen eventually."

"I know, but I don't want to kill you or hurt you." Sinlivbie replied, the hopelessness of the situation drenching her words.

"You won't hurt me. When we fight, one of us will reach our limits. And we'll lose." Glisteen replied, trying to sound hopeful.

Sinlivbie sighed. "Okay."

Glisteen looked back up at the list to check who Yilasia was fighting. It was a new recruit, Reath. Glisteen looked to the side of the list. Next to the names was the dates of the fights. Her fight with Sinlivbie was a week from today. Yilasia's was three days away. The first fight was today, between Thigil and Telma.

Glisteen felt a twist in her gut. Thigil was a good guy, but he was blind. How could he fight? Telma, on the other hand, had no such problem, but she wouldn't kill, would she? Glisteen realized what this would put Mictochra through. She and Thigil were friends, very close friends at that.

Soon, the hallway was filled with people, all seeing who they would fight. Glisteen found Yilasia and told her who she would fight. Yilasia shivered. "What's wrong?" Glisteen asked.

"Reath has an earth gift. He can move the earth. And he's good at it." Yilasia replied.

"But you have the plant gift, Sia. You can make plants do what you want, just like our mother. She won too, you know?" Glisteen encouraged.

"Yeah, but plants need the earth to grow." Yilasia replied.

"Not all plants." Glisteen tried to remain hopeful, Yilasia's negativity wasn't helping.

Yilasia set her jaw. "I'll try to win."

Glisteen smiled. "Good."

"Who are you fighting?" Yilasia asked.

Glisteen's smile faded. "Sinlivbie." Glisteen said it with more finality then she meant.

Yilasia nodded, sadly. "You won't... hurt each other, will you?"

Glisteen shook her head. "We won't try to hurt each other, but there's no guarantee."

Yilasia nodded again. They met up with Sinlivbie, who had recovered, and Raya. They started toward the training room, but before they could get there, two guards blocked their path. They had spears and wore black armor and chainmail masks. "Sorry, you can't go to the training room until after the fight." a gruff male voice said from behind the mask.

"Why?" Raya asked, turning on the classic Raya smile.

"Because you must watch the fight." the gruff voice answered.

Glisteen rolled her eyes. They weren't going to get anywhere there. "Come on guys, let's go to the cafeteria." They went to the cafeteria and sat down at a table, a few other people came in, talking quietly. Yilasia and Raya talked too, but Glisteen was silent, still thinking of the fact that she had to fight her friend, her first friend. Sinlivbie participated in the conversation, and smiled at jokes, but the smiles never reached her eyes. Raya ordered a pancake, and everyone else did too. They finished their breakfast and were sitting, still talking.

"Excuse me, Gifteds." The rickety voice of the intercom came on. "Those who are battling today, please make your way to the arena. Any guard can direct you to where you will enter the arena to fight. Those who are watching, please make your way to the stands. Any guard can direct you." The voice went off and Glisteen sighed. She'd never get used to the shrill voice. It hurt her ears. She then stood, with her friends and sister, and went to find one of the guards to direct her to the arena. They knew that the guards would force them if they didn't go willingly, so they went willingly.

The arena was outside. It was a rectangle stadium with a platform at the bottom. It was large and on one side was a weapon rack, probably for Thigil, whose Gift couldn't be used for wounding. Everything was grey: the seats, the floor of the platform, everything. Glisteen and her friends found reserved seats for them, in the front, closest to where the battle would rage. They sat down in the grey seats. Mictochra sat next to them. She was tense, and kept biting her lip. She was all black. She wore a black shirt and black jeans.

"Mictochra, are you okay?" Glisteen asked, even though she already knew the answer. Just like she suspected, Mictochra shook her head. Glisteen took hold of Mictochra's hand. They sat there like that, with Glisteen giving Mictochra silent reassurance. Glisteen looked at Mictochra. "Do you think you could change back to your normal colors?" She asked, gently. Mictochra looked at herself, as if just realizing her darkness. She slowly faded into her normal colors.  Glisteen didn't know what to say. What could she say?

The intercom came on. This time it was someone young, with a booming voice. "Welcome, Niactarctans! Today, we will have a lovely battle between two Gifteds. Everyone, please welcome Telma!" Glisteen swallowed as Telma walked in. She looked different, stiffer, prepared to kill. The large crowd that had congregated applauded. "Next we have Thigil!"

The crowd applauded again, and Glisteen noticed all the people looked cruel, almost like assassins. Each person wore dark colors or had a tattoo. Thigil walked on, well, walk was a strong word. It was more like a stumble, putting each foot forward carefully. But Glisteen saw something new about him, a sort of inner strength.

Thigil felt around the weapons rack, and soon settled on a dagger. Telma didn't need a weapon. They circled each other, Thigil with confident steps, as if he just realized the arena was clear of things that could trip him; Telma in a fighting stance, eyes darting, looking for metal to use for her Gift. Suddenly, a buzzer went off.

Telma threw her hands forward and Thigil's knife flew out of his grasp, floating in the air. The knife started darting at Thigil, though Thigil seemed to sense where it was and would leap out of the way. He kept leaping out of the way left, right, left, right. Thigil finally decided to strike. He put one hand forward and shot a bright beam of light straight at Telma's face. It was very bright, and Thigil darted forward at a temporarily blinded Telma. He struck her directly in the face, and Telma grunted, falling to the ground. The knife fell out of the air, too, with a clang. Thigil heard it and darted towards it, He grabbed it quickly and turned to point it at Telma. Telma was way ahead of him.

Thigil darted forward, and Telma turned the knife back around Thigil. Mictochra gasped and a sob escaped her lips. Thigil looked at his midsection, his shirt, stained with blood. His blood. He looked toward Mictochra, who had tears running down her cheeks. Glisteen didn't know how he could have found Mictochra. Maybe he had heard her sob? She would never know. Thigil smiled at Mictochra, and held a shaky thumbs up toward her, a smile on his face, before falling on his knees, then flat on the ground. Mictochra screamed in anguish. Thigil was gone, and Mictochra was alone.