The Non Mortal Games

3: Metallucia: The Goddess

"WELCOME TO THE FIRST EVER NON-MORTAL GAMES!" Claudius Templesmith's voice booms across the circle of tributes. Put a sock in it already, I think.
I take a last-minute (literally) glance around the circle of non-mortals around me, all but one of them destined to die soon. Preston, my guardian, hovers next to me. The elf ghost whispers, "I'll be there if you need me, Metallucia. Just do your best." I give him an appreciative smile. "50..." I hear the voice counting down to the bloodbath that will be the 100th Hunger Games. I put my hands over my ears, trying to block the sound out; I do not want to know how long many of us have left until our certain deaths. I go over my battle strategies in my mind. My mother is Athena, goddess of battle strategy, so I have an advantage there. Being the Sage of Metal and having a form of pure divine silver is another advantage. Then everything begins. The countdown reaches zero. All Hades breaks loose.

How did this come to pass? Well, it was a series of unpleasant events. Let me start from the beginning...

I had (for once) woken up early. I knew the other two non-mortal teenagers in District Three would already be up as well. Everyone got up early on Reaping Day. My mother Athena and my father Hephaestus were awake as well. "Metallucia," my mother said, "do not forget to be back an hour before the Reaping." I told them I would be there and dashed out the door, Preston flying beside me. I took off from the ground, my mechanical wings (which were a part of my own body) carrying me over the district. I had to meet the only other non-mortals in the district who were in the age group for Hunger Games tributes.

I knew where they'd be. At the old abandoned factory near my workshop. I had been an inventor even while I silently drifted around the world while my body was sleeping. I loved District Three because I had been wandering around like a ghost during the Industrial Revolution (only being visible to non-mortals). That revolution had been started by my birth on the 16th of January 1757. That was more than 499 years ago. This time next year, I would have reached my first half-millennium. An important milestone for every god. During the Industrial Revolution, factories had been built. The spirit of invention had truly been alive. I was the only person in my district who remembered the age before Panem existed. Well, other than my parents of course.

Despite the fact that I was 499 years old, my physical form looked sixteen. That was because while I had been drifting my body had been resting, so it hadn't aged. I had been a silent observer of the world for 242 years before I had been awakened for three years, then placed in a mortal host. Then the world went into a state of chaos so for a century or two I had been put to sleep and ejected from my body again until 13 years ago. Because of this, my name had been in the ball of potential tributes' names for the last four years.

As I had expected, the boys were already at the gathering spot. Saxon Cross, a werewolf, called out to me. "What took so long, Silverwings?" He was only messing around, of course. I landed near him.
"Nothing. Did you get up on the wrong side of the bed this morning or something?" I replied.
Markus Kane, an angel/demon hybrid, said, "I guess everyone must be on edge today. It IS Reaping Day, in case you two have forgotten. Not to mention the fact that this year is the fourth Quarter Quell. We don't even know what twist the Capitol is putting in this year."

Ah yes, the Quarter Quell. I had forgotten that this year was the 100th Hunger Games, and as the number 100 divided evenly by 25 with no remainder, we were to have a Quarter Quell this year. The Capitol always put some kind of twist in the Hunger Games when there was a Quell. In the last Quell, the 75th Hunger Games, the tributes had been reaped from the pool of previous victors. This year though, the Capitol were being unusually late in announcing what was so special about the Quarter Quell this year.

It was then that we heard the announcement over a huge speaker. District 3 had this enormous speaker for announcements, and it did my head in all the time. "Attention, District 3. The Capitol's announcement regarding this year's Quarter Quell is about to air on television. We advise you to watch."
"I suppose we'd better head home to see what kind of trauma this year's tributes will be put through," Saxon said grumpily. Markus and I agreed, and so we all headed home.

My parents were already sitting in front of the television when I arrived.
"They're just about to announce the Quell," my father whispered to me. I listened as the President of Panem announced those condemning words:

To remind the districts of the ancient cultures of magic that fought in the war, this year the tributes will be reaped from the pool of non-mortals in every district."

It shouldn't take a mathematician to work out what that meant for me. I was the only female non-mortal who (according to the person in charge of putting names of potential tributes together) fit into the age group for participation in the Hunger Games. Therefore, there was only one name to choose from in the ball of female names: Metallucia.

I made a mad dash for the abandoned factory. I knew that Saxon and Markus would be there. They hugged me tight; they'd worked it out too. I was definitely going in the arena of annihilation this year. It was just as well that I wasn't in Sage form. I was the Sage of Metal, a being who had an alternate form. There were two other Sages out there somewhere too, but I had never seen either of them. Anyway, in my Sage form, I am a being of pure divine silver, one of the four divine metals (Celestial bronze, imperial gold, adamas and divine silver). Saxon, being a werewolf, cannot touch silver of any kind as it hurts him. Divine silver is especially deadly to them however, because lycanthropy is a disease from the realm of the demonic. Markus is half demon, so he cannot touch any heavenly substances either.

The two were hugging me so tight I had to be extra careful not to let my wings touch them, as they were of divine silver. I had to push them off me so we could discuss things. After all, I wasn't the only one going into the arena soon. One of them was going in too.

Now, the thing with Saxon and Markus is that because I am the only female non-mortal in the district apart from the older ones, they both want to take their friendship with me a bit further. The thing is that neither of them can have me because I fear my touch will hurt them. After all, it is so easy to forget I'm in Sage form. I've made that mistake before, and I almost killed Saxon because of it. I had explained this to them before, and yet they still believed in our impossible love triangle.

"Listen, Saxon, Markus," I said, "I know that you've both been...wanting to take it further. I want you to know that I don't have any preferences as to which of you becomes my fellow tribute. Whoever isn't picked...take care of District Three for us. I have a good chance of winning, unless another God-" or Sage, but I didn't say that "-is picked. If I do win though, it means that one of you will be..well, dead. I don't wan't to be the one responsible for that, by the way."
Saxon spoke up. "Met, you've been a great protector of the district. How about the three of us make a promise that nobody kills the other tribute from Three." Markus and I nodded, and we all shook hands on it. The clock tower chimed one o'clock. We headed home to prepare for the Reaping.