The lights above me buzz. They're so cheap. My sheets feel like tissue paper. I awake because I'm not in Echo's bed anymore. I spring up in the bed and all around me looks like a long room in the children's ward of a mental hospital. Each bed is filled with every female member of Rave Tempest. They are all soundly asleep, except for me. My bare feet hit the cold tile, and my eye almost jabs into the corner of a rolling rack. There are individual rolling racks next to each of our beds. On my rack is my complete fighting outfit with: boots, corset top, and choker. It also contains several changes of casual clothes and one formal dress. The only thing I don't own on the rack is the dress. I check the tag and it is my size. The dress is beautiful, really. It's short and spilled over with deep, hunter green sequins. I ponder around the room and everyone is tranquil on sleep. The only window in the room peaks in early morning purple light. Bars decorate it horizontally and vertically. Throughout the window, snow peaked trees are the only thing visible for miles. I peek through one of the two doors in the room. The first door leads into a bathroom with a dozen stalls and showers. The second door leads into a creepy hallway. One end of the hallway is short and ends abruptly with a heavy looking double door. The door creeps only a few paces from my door. The other side of the hallway stretches into a endless hallway. White walls pour down into a little speck at the end. In front of my door, neatly aligned, is a second door. I step outside my room to examine the second door, but the door knob begins to jingle.
"Celestia?" Rune gasps.
"Rune!" I sigh in relief, "is everyone in there?"
"Yeah, every male member," he says and turns to look back into the room.
"Even Echo?" I ask.
"Every male member besides Echo," he corrects.
"I see."
"All the females?"
"All of them."
The clicking of high heels bounces down the turn of the hallway, Rune and I freeze in the moment. The hallway turns and greets us with a pale faced woman: Raven.
"Early to rise makes you wise," she singsongs as she approaches us. I hold my breath.
"Good morning," Rune says, softly.
"Good morning, Rune! You've grown so tall, I'm so proud," she gawks.
"Thank you," he replies.
"Where did you take us?" I blurt.
"The arena," she answers.
"Where?" I repeat, harsher.
"You'll be competing in the Death Rounds here. These are your, for lack of a better word, locker rooms. These are your temporary homes for the week. You have to stay in your rooms until dinner time, I'll have someone call you. At dinner, wear the formal outfits by talented tailors made for you. After dinner, well participate in the first round of the games," she explains.
"What are the rules?" I ask.
"The Death Round rules will be explained at dinner," she replies, smugly.
"Can we go into each other's locker rooms?" Rune asks.
"I suppose so, but no funny business going on!" she snaps, like a concerned mother would.
"Understood," Rune says.
"Well, I'll send up breakfast in a bit," Raven huffs.
"That doesn't make sense. Why are you feeding us? Isn't it more advantageous for you to starve us for a week and then make us fight?" I question.
