Author's Note: I forgot to post this on Friday! 😱 Sorry, peeps. But at least I didn't forget to post it entirely. Oh welllllllllllllll. At least this is a very... interesting chapter... 😜

🤑🤠<- Stripper emoji

Glisteen walked down the outrageously long hallway to the hospital wing, or at least she thought it was the way to the hospital wing. The guard who gave her instructions wasn't that descriptive. She walked up to a doorway with a medical sign on it, and knew she had found the hospital wing. She pushed through the door and stoppped at the counter, where a familiar face greeted her.

"Talyah, do you know where Mictochra is? And why are you in the hospital?" Glisteen asked, cautiously, not wanting to upset Talyah, but Talyah merely smiled.

"Oh, I don't work here or anything. I was just checking up." Glisteen didn't like her tone, and gulped.

"What were you checking up on?" Glisteen asked, curiously.

"Oh, just some staff issues I need to work out. Your friend is in 185." Talyah replied.

Glisteen took that as her dismissal and turned to find room 185. She soon found it, with Mictochra sitting in bed, bandages around her midsection.

"Hey, Mictochra. Are you okay?" Glisteen asked, worried.

"Fine, just a cracked rib." Mictochra replied, with a grimace.

"Okay. How long are you going to be here?" Glisteen inquired.

"I'm leaving today." Mictochra said.

"How?" Glisteen asked, puzzled.

All of a sudden, a ginger haired man walked into the room. He held a clipboard in one hand and a pen in the other. His starched white coat had a name tag reading Dr. Dev Nebro. "Hi, I'm Dr. Nebro. Nice to meet you." he said, with a smile that did not reach his eyes.

He held out a hand for Glisteen to shake. Glisteen didn't trust him, but shook his hand. She gasped and lurched back as a cooling sensation ran up her side where she had been struck by Mictochra's scimitar.

"That should be better now." he said, definitively.

Glisteen realized something. "You have a healing Gift." she said.

"Correct. Now, Miss Pamiryr-"

"Mictochra." Mictochra said. "Miss is much too formal."

Dr. Nebro's eye almost imperceptibly twitched. "Mictochra, if you'll just take my hand, you will be healed and you can be on your way."

Mictochra reached her hand out toward him. She shuddered as the healing power soaked through her as it had Glisteen. Mictochra stretched, then unwrapped her bandages.

"Thank you." she said, curtly. She and Glisteen walked off. They went to Mictochra's room, which Glisteen didn't go in, since Mictochra told her she'd be right back out. She was right. Mictochra came out a minute later, carrying a suitcase.

"You're leaving." Glisteen stated.

"Yeah, I'm going home. I'll get on a boat. I have to heal, and I think getting as far as I can from this place will be best." Mictochra explained.

Glisteen nodded.

"If you ever want to find me again, find the house on the hill, where the sun sets, in my old village. There will be instructions, but in riddles." Mictochra said.

"Okay. I will." Glisteen replied.

"Well, this is goodbye. Tell the others goodbye for me too."

"I will. Goodbye." Glisteen stated, sadly. She hugged Mictochra, then let her go, and Mictochra disappeared down the long hallway.

Glisteen went to the training room. Mictochra was gone, and she wasn't coming back. When she reached the training room, everyone had gone back to training. Glisteen's friends noticed she was alone, though. They walked over.

"Where's Mictochra?" Raya asked, when they reached her.

Glisteen smiled, sadly. "Gone."

"What do you mean 'gone'? People don't just disappear." Raya cocked her head.

"I mean, left as in gone. She's not coming back. She told me to say bye to you guys, for her, though." Glisteen explained.

That silenced Raya.

"She needs this." Sinlivbie said, with a sad smile. "She's happy."

Everyone agreed. They slowly went back to training, Glisteen sparring with Yilasia. Raya, practicing throwing knives at a dummy. Sinlivbie, surprisingly, yet unsurprisingly, sparring with Tyvigar and satisfyingly winning.

Glisteen was going easy on Yilasia, since she had no fighting experience, but she was learning quickly. Soon, it was unclear who was better, when Glisteen and Yilasia tried their best. Glisteen was worried, though. Yilasia's fight was tomorrow, and she didn't want to lose her.

Glisteen trained with Yilasia again and again. She left the training room with more bruises that she could care to count. It was soon late into the night, and Glisteen was tossing and turning, worrying about Yilasia's fight. The sun soon rose, and Glisteen awake from a light slumber, got dressed in an orange and white short sleeved shirt and maroon fleece leggings. She made her way out of her room and met up with her friends.

The intercom came on. "Gifteds, those who are fighting, make your way to where you will enter the stadium. Those who are watching, make your way to the stands." Glisteen winced. She wished her sister luck, and made her way to her seat. She sat there, tired and worried.

"Yilasia will be okay. I've seen her train with you." Sinlivbie comforted

"Yeah! I mean, she beat you a couple times." Raya enthused.

Glisteen nodded. "I know."

Yilasia entered the stadium, followed by Reath, who wore a much too confident smirk plastered across his tan face, his floppy brown hair running into his hazel colored eyes, which glinted in the sunlight. Glisteen wanted to slap that cocky smile off his face. He already annoyed her, and they hadn't spoken at all. Yilasia raised her arms, ready to fight, while Reath just shook his limbs and yawned. He expected Yilasia to be weak. He expected a child who had no fighting experience. He expected wrong.

Yilasia, who had a leather pouch resting on her hip, reached in and pulled out some seeds. She threw them across the floor. Judging by Reath's surprised face, he had just realized there was no earth in the stadium. Glisteen suddenly had a lot more confidence in Yilasia's victory. Reath was simply idiotic!

Meanwhile, Yilasia had already grown a forest of vines, reaching them out slowly and menacingly toward Reath. He suddenly looked scared. A few people in the crowd snickered at the turn of events.

Frantically, Reath pushed against the walls of the arena, probably trying to escape, which was virtually impossible. The vines were almost to him. Something hit Yilasia in the head. The vines fell in a jumble of green tendrils. Glisteen nearly jumped out of her seat, startled. Yilasia rubbed her forehead and looked down to see a single pebble resting on the floor, not enough to do any real damage. A distraction was all Reath was waiting for, though.

In the split second of Yilasia's surprise, Reath rushed forward. He raised a fist and tried to hit her in the face. Yilasia caught the fist in her hand. "Bad idea." she whispered. He flung his free hand at her face, catching Yilasia off guard and actually making contact with her face.

She rubbed her cheek, unharmed, while Reath gripped his hand, face twisted in pain. Yilasia kicked him in the unmentionables. Reath groaned and curled up into a ball. She kicked him again and again. Glisteen heard a loud crack. Yilasia backed away, and Glisteen thought she was finished. Then a long, thick vine rose from the ground, snaking its way toward Reath. The vine wrapped itself around Reath's neck, slowly squeezing tighter, tighter, tighter.

What is she doing?! Glisteen thought. This was nothing like Yilasia. Glisteen's sister slowly strutted closer to Reath. She leaned over him, her green eyes glinting with malice, then whispered something so quietly Glisteen had to strain to hear.

"Surrender."

"I- I surrender!" Reath gasped, panicked. Yilasia smiled wickedly, making the vine close even tighter around Reath's neck. He clawed at the constricting plant, gasping for air. Beside her, Glisteen saw Sinlivbie cover her mouth in horror.

"Yilasia!" Glisteen yelled. She couldn't bear watching this. Her sister was about to kill someone. Yilasia turned to look at Glisteen. There eyes met. Something seemed... off about Yilasia's eyes, but she couldn't place. They were so green... So evil..."Stop! He surrendered! He surrendered! Please, stop! You've already won!" Glisteen was sobbing now. Suddenly, something in Yilasia clicked. The vicious shimmer in her eyes was gone, and in its place was a hint of worried shock. The vine around Reath's neck sank back to the ground, falling limp. Reath scrambled away from his adversary.

"Wha- what happened?" Yilasia whispered weakly. She looked down at her hands. She looked scared, scared of herself, of what she could do, of what she could become...

Yilasia suddenly ran from the arena, a heavy sob breaking its way from her throat. Glisteen immediately leapt from her seat in the stands, running to the doors that lead out of the arena as quick as she could to comfort her sister.

While she was running, she realized something, one of the things that had bothered her about Yilasia's sudden harshness. The realization swept over her like a icy water. Glisteen noticed what was so unsettling about Yilasia's eyes. Her green eyes had sparkled with malice.

Yilasia had blue eyes.