The arena was covered in red sand and was in a circular shape. All along the sides, there were dead bodies and skeletons, some even seemed like fresh kill. The gate on the other side began to open and big red eyes shone through the bars. The gate was very large and make a squeaking sound that pirced my ears when it rose up. I looked back where I came from and my friends looked at me through the bars. Troll soilders standing behind them, watching. I was looking into two copper eyes, though. And for him, I had to win.
"Let the games begin!" Henry sat on a tall podium above the gate on the opposite side from me. "My beast against a water element!" The crowd cheered and then pipes on the side began pumping out water in my favor. The water turned red against the sand and the gate on the other end growled. I walked forward and a giant red, winged snake appeared from the inside of the gate. It was a dragon, its eyes were made of red crtstals and it's underside was black, the rest of his body glistering red like blood. I'm guessing its a boy, he had a tail that was on fire and so were his ears. It was a Fire Dragon, in History, they were mystical creatures not known to actually exist.
"Met my pet Dragon! Bruce, the Fire Dragon!" The crowd cheered, Henry stood up. "Let the fight! Begin!!" A loud Ding! sounded reminding me of the familiar elevator from camp. Bruce, the Dragon, surged forward blowing a fireball in my direction, maybe Chris really should have gone instead of me. I looked back, the four faces behind me had their jaws dropped. I made a water dome around me and the fire didn't come through, but I knew that wasnt going to save me. The dragon was majestic and gorgeous beside the fact it was going to kill me. I had to kill it first.
The dragon hovered above my dome blasting it repeatedly with fire balls. The crowd began to chant, they were getting bored. I wasn't going to go down that easily. The dragon stopped for a moment looking at me with its jeweled eyes flaming red like fire. The drag coiled around my dome and I braced for something. It's body lit on fire, disintegrating my dome and exploding sending me flying through the air. I reached for the water which made a soft landing pad below me, for the 20 foot drop. The Dragon recoiled on its self and then flapped it's large wings with little fire balls in the winds. I dig my sword into the ground and held on. My body rose from the ground but I cling to my sword. A fireball hit my sword and it came out of the ground pulling me back. I slammed my back against the stone wall toppling over a skeleton.
"Come on! Let blood be shed on this ground!". Henry screamed. I remembered the hint that reminded me of the prophesy, it had said something about blood being spilled on this dirt and then not being able to... Blurt? I didn't quite remember, but if that note was like the lady in my vision had said, this was a step closer to turning into her. I will not allow that. I picked my sword and ran out of the way of another fire ball, deflected another on my sword and got to the water. I made the water rise me up and soon I was the dragon's height, about thirty feet above the ground now. I didn't dare look down.
The crowd ohhed and ahhed, but some people, I could hear now, we're chanting "Kill her! Kill her!" I glanced back to the bars, two pairs of green eyes, very dark eyes, and copper eyes. They focused on me and it gave me courage, to see their faces for another day, for a whole life. I could not die here even with my back aching and the blood dripping down my arm. I had to fight, I had to kill.
I swung my sword against the chest of the beast, but the contact simply slipped off. I knew there had to be a weakness in its armor, I had to find it. The beast roared, it could have been laughing at my pathetic attempt, but I had already moved around to its tail. I lashed out with no such luck, only bringing his attention back on me. He blasted fire and I pulled my arm up creating a barrier. I felt the heat and the intensity of the flames, my concentration slipping from my grasp. The continueous blow made sweat drip down the sides of my face, drenching me in what the water couldn't.
"Ahh." I pulled all the energy I could get in one more blow before falling back into the water and the dragon fell back in the other direction. I tried to heal myself before the dragon could fly back up and I felt the water corsing through my body. The grains of sand in the water scratched against my skin and didn't make me feel to much refreshed than energized. I came out of the water to where I pulled my sword in front of my body and lowered myself all the way to the ground. I almost tripped with the sudden contact of Earth beneath my feet and I looked down and saw a blue flower sprouting from the sand. I knew it was Bethany on the other side of the arena reaching out to me.
"Fight!" Henry screamed pounding his fists in the arm rests of his large chair. I turned towards the dragon, its crystal eye had fallen out revealing a hole of blazing fire. The left eye still in tact though it had fire coming from around the edges. That's when the idea hit me, it's eyes were probably its weakness, the only place without protective armor. It's mouth opened only when it breathed fire, I would never get into it, and it's nose had spikes across it defending the openings. I had to get to that eye.
"You got this Persia!" I heard a small voice reach my ears. Emma was wooping for me and then the rest of my friends joined in. The crowd glanced over, but overpowered my friends with their own chant. "Fight! Fight! Fight!" The crowd hollered. I ran towards the dragon and with my sword in hand, I wheeled it like a spear and stiked it's eye, it fell out of place and landed on the ground. My sword clattered to the ground as well, but the dragon, Bruce, stepped on it as it hissed and roared. I sprinted towards me, its eyes blazing in fury, I reached for the water, but the water was no where in sight, it was behind the dragon.
"Crap!" I ran in the other direction, but it was almost no use. The Dragon leaned over me, casting its shadow of death over my body and then stopped and squirmed. It fell to the ground and I rolled out of the way, but one of its claws landed on my arm. "Ahh!" I screamed in pain. The arm of the dragon weighted like a person sitting on my arm alone. Its body turned ablaze and the fire ate at my skin. I reached for the sword and willed it into my hand, cutting the dragon's arm off of me and rolling away again. My shirt's sleeve was gone, but my flesh was red and bloody. I could barely move my fingers, my left arm was absolutely useless. I stepped away from the dragon until I collided with the wall. I crouched down and covered my face as the dragone erupted into flames and exploded.
Looking back up, fire and red scales lay scatted across the field and two oval gems lay in the middle of it all. The gate with my friends opened and they came running to me. I braced the wall and stood up, being cautious of my arm. The crowd was erupting into fights in the stands and some even threw weopons in our direction. I walked away from the wall and limped over closer to my friends. They were running the entire length of the arena.
"Stop! Who let them out?" Henry roared standing and throwing a guard out of the way. His eyes found me on the field and he grabbed a spear with a diamond on the top as a blade. I stopped in my tracks and looked at where he was aiming, my friends.
"Go!" I shouted pointing at Henry, but they couldn't hear me. I heard a grunt and the spear sailed over my head and hit the ground a few feet in front of Logan who jumped back in surprise. I limped as fast as I could, but tripped over a red scale on the floor, falling on top of my injured arm. I screamed in pain rolling to my back as my friends finally arrived.
Everything was spinning and I looked at Emma's face over my head first, then Bethany with Logan standing behind. He actually had concern on his face, and finally Chris who told everyone to step back. He asked me questions, but I couldn't concentrate on them. I was losing too much blood. My shirt once again soaked in blood and now ripped to shreds on my left sleeve. I felt someone pick me up and I stared up at the large circular lights above me, they seemed to take me in and destroy the rest of my vision. I heard my name being shouted over and over again.
"Persia? Focus, I need you to focus. Don't leave me, please." It was Chris who was now running with me and I saw weapons crashing behind us. The guards were throwing spears as we ran for the gate which the victor would go through. We were almost there when we crashed. Chris tumbled to the floor and I lay there unable to move, watching spear after spear come closer to us. Emma and Bethany said something and now Logan picked me up, Chris was leaning against the wall gritting his teeth together. I saw a rip in his pants, but the dark hallway consumed me, I lost focus. I lost Chris. I lost Myself.
...
A fire crackled in the distance, something warm was on top of my head and I smelled smoke. My eyes burst open and I shot up, my head pounding. A hand on my head jerked away as I sat up and scrambled away from the fire in front of me. I looked around Emma, Bethany, and Logan were sleeping. Next to me Chris rubbed his eyes and looked me with big, worry filled eyes.
"You're awake." He whispered getting closer. "I didn't know when you'd wake up. You were in a c-coma its been two days." He said taking my hand then looking at my patched arm. "Is it okay?" He whispered.
"I've been asleep for two days?" I said a little loud, I saw Logan rustle. "Sorry. I'm just so exhuasted. It feels fine, thanks." I put my hand down and looked at it. Then I lifted my gaze to his patched leg "What happened?"
"While we were escaping the arena, a spear hit my calf, Logan took you the rest of the way."
"So you should say thank you!" Logan said. Emma and Bethany sat up.
"Thanks Logan!" Bethany said crossing her arms. "What I great way to wa- Persia!" Bethany and Emma shot up and sat next to me. They hugged me tight laughing in my ears.
"I knew you'd be all right!" Emma said into my hair.
"It's been two days." Bethany mumbled into my shoulder.
I patted their heads, "It's okay guys, I'm ok." They released me thankfully.
"I didn't hear that 'thank you Logan!'" Him having not even moved a muscle where he was sitting.
"Thanks Logan." I said to him.
"Your welcome, glad your alright." He said softly.
"Oh my gosh! Logan actually said something sincerely!" Chris said laughing.
"Don't push your luck!" Logan spat, he smiled though. He was kinder than I had given him credit for, I faintly remembered him picking me up, before I lost conciousness.
"So where are we? Any closer to the Cavern of whispers?" I asked.
"We know where it is, we've been camping here for a while now waiting for you to get up." Logan said.
"You mean wake up?" Bethany corrected.
"What ever..." He said with a sly smile.
"We need a plan though, where ever the Crystal Code is, the Fire Lord is. And its in the Cavern of Whispers." Chris said.
"Are we close?" I asked again.
"No, we know where it is, but we know its going to be hard to get to." Emma said staring into the dark maze. "And we're back to navigating, those tunnels leading to Henry's kingdom we're one way tunnels. By passing through, we made it to the next section which we were only able to pass through because you won."
"Ya Congrats, Persia. You survived." Logan said on the other side of the fire.
"Not funny." Chris said. "She could have died, anyone of us could have."
"Chill, I'm okay and that's all that matters." I said arching my brow.
"We need to get moving, we're not going anywhere sitting here arguing." Emma stated getting up slinging her back pack over her shoulder. "Lets go."
I braced the wall and picked myself up, I could stand, but I wouldn't be able to do much with my arm.
"You good?" Chris asked.
"Yes, I got this." And we walked into the dark hallway.
...
At time went on, we walked and walked. My knees started hurting, there were no monsters, but this was definitely the largest section. I could stop, but think about the arena. There were real dragons and trolls now? I shouldn't be surprised for what comes next, but those things didn't surprise me as much as... The kiss. I don't remember what happened exactly when I left for the arena, but my friends weren't hurt.
"We've been walking forever, we also need sunlight." Logan said. "We need to stop."
"Its two in the morning." I said squinting at my watch. "Wow, guess time does seem to pass, how long have we been in the maze?"
"Four days and yes, we do need sunlight." Emma said, she had grown serious after a while. The maze was getting into her head.
"Lets stop at a dead end." Bethany said. We actually looked for a dead end and we found one that was quite nice. The vines grew on the ceiling and draped down creating a camouflage for our camp. Chris started a fire and we searched the walls again for anything useful. In this section, the walls weren't stone blocks, it was smooth concrete, barely any cracks. The floor was littered with dead vines and red sand reminding me of the arena again.
"How far away is the arena and Henry?" I asked curiously.
"Not too far. Why?" Chris asked.
"I just don't ever want to go back there." I said sitting down next to hin.
"I know, I still think I should have gone." He said lighting his
hand on fire. "You wouldn't have gotten burned." I glanced at my arm then at him, he studied my arm, squishing his eyebrows together. Emma, Bethany, and Logan weren't behind the camouflage the vines. I flushed and he took my hand folding his fingers over mine. I looked in his eyes. "I mean what I said before, before the arena." I love you...
"I um-" I stammered.
"Guys! We got company." Bethany said storming in the small camp. I got my sword out as I stood up, still gripping Chris's hand. I looked down and he let go pressing a kiss against my cheek before running past the vines. Bethany winked at me. "Told ya you two were great for eachother." And she turned around to the vines. I walked out and there were crystal trolls with spears. Not this again.
Three lay slumped againt the wall bleeding with spikes embedded in their chests, Logan's work. Emma was firing arrows like a made women, but the trolls would slap them out of the air. Emma ducked and ran towards me.
"Go back, you can't fight!" She screamed as she turned and finally got a purple arrow in the troll's chest. She willed wind and made tornadoes throw trolls against the wall, Logan doing the same. Bethany jumped on to the back of one and decapitated it with her axes on either side of its neck. I looled away until I saw Henry himself standing behind rest if the trolls pointing at me. I tried to run back to safely but something pulled my hair, making me do a back flip and land on the floor with my back.
"She will die like she was supposted to! The Fire Lord will give me as many gems as I want for her!" He screamed. I was dragged by the troll who was holding my hair. I stood up finally and sliced his hand making him let go. Five trolls incircled me.
"Persia!" I couldn't see through the troll blockade, but I could tell Chris was making his way over. Vines grew behind the trolls who were against the wall and choked them. I tried to get out but a hand clamped over my mouth and pulled me back slamming me against the other wall. I crumpled to the floor, but quickly got up to where a spear was pointing at my throat.
"I'll kill you myself if I have to." Henry slammed the spear into the wall beside my head and then I ducked as he hit the wall above me.
"Leave her alone!" Chris sprung out of no where driving his sword into the trolls heart. He took it out of the body and touched the sword against his ring, making the sword disappear. He picked me up and together we walked back to the camp. "Don't go out there again!" He stormed out, but I realized that my sword was still out there. I can't let them take it, it was my sword. I clutched my amulet hoping to will it to return, but I didn't feel the sudden pulse of its return.
I got up, ignoring what Chris had said and walked out. The first person I saw was Bethany leaning against the wall wiping a gash on her forehead looking at her hand and gasped. Emma was still conrolling the winds and the trolls who had the purple arrows sticking out of them like spikes on a hedgehog. Logan was now running towards Bethany, he said something, then ran back. Chris was furious, he striked troll after troll and the ones who died, evaporated; they just took a little longer than monsters and demons. None of the trolls noticed me sneaking between and behind them.
I saw my sword's reflection on the wall and saw it in the next corridor. I reached to pick it up, a foot slammed down on it. It was a troll who had followed me. He grunted and I sprayed him with water pulling my hands on front me, he stepped off my blade. My sword was still intact and seemed to be unbreakable. I sliced and stabbed at the beast, finally plundging it in his heart. I turned back wiping my head and saw my group was retreating back to the camp. Bethany and Logan were walking shoulder to shoulder touching, her arm wrapped around his neck wobbling back over to the vines. The trolls were piled around the hallway and then I heard a shout bringing me back to attention. Chris came storming out sweeping over the hallway until his eyes found his target, me.
"I told you not to leave." He said stomping over and I shrugged. He looked behind me at the troll I just killed.
"I had to get my sword." I said carelessly.
"I thought they took you..." He hugged me, still being careful of my arm. The bandages were holding up thankfully, Chris ensured that.
"Come on." He let go but grabbed my good hand, pulling me along. Before we stepped into the camouflage he turned towards me again. "Good job, though." He smiled. "You didn't die and that's what matters." I smiled and winked at him.
"Won't go down that easily." I said squeezing his hand in mine, his eyes brightened and so did his smile.
"I know." We stepped into the vines where Logan was wiping Bethany's head with a cleaning wipe from the med kit. Her ankle was twisted at a weird ankle and she stared blankly up. I adjusted my bandana and my ponytail letting go of Chris's hand. Emma was cooking something over the fire and glanced up at me when I passed, she had a few scratches and a cut on her wrist. I probably had a concussion and my arm still hurt when I bent it at the elbow. I sat down on the other side of Bethany and touched her head, it was burning, but had cold sweat. Chris sat on the other side of the fire and helped Emma cook, but she shoved him away after a while.
"I can cook on my own." She said. "But Thanks..." She tried. I could tell something had happened, I'm so going to ask later. I looked back at Logan who was sitting against the wall next to Bethany staring at her ankle.
"Bethany is strong, she'll get through this." I supported.
"Not without proper doctor's care." He said.
"Chris can help, he did a nurse class." I tried.
"Not with as few supplies as this." Logan said adjecting her ankle. Bethany shot upward and grit her teeth.
"Please... Don't touch." She managed moving Her other leg up to rest her head on.
"Here, I have an idea." I grabbed a water bottle and lifted all the water from it. I made a little ball and pressed it on Bethany's ankle.
"It stings." She said holding her breath.
"I know, I'm going to heal it I don't known if it will work or hurt." I said and summoned my energy to her foot. A picture came to mind, two joints in her ankle were cracked and I imagined them together again. Willing the water to heal her. I heard a crack, then another. I started to sweat, but I kept focus. Bethany bit the collar of her shirt and she let out a whimper. Logan dared to put his hand on her back and looked worriedly at my hands wrapped around Bethany's ankle. With one more burst of energy I dropped my hands, though I wasn't sure the ankle was healed, I couldn't do anything more. I didn't have the energy.
"Bethany, how does it feel." I asked willing my forehead. I looked back quickly to see Emma and Chris paying attention. Her ankle did a full spin then she lifted herself from the wall. She stepped forward and the ankle wobbled which almost made her topple over. Logan caught her and helped her up.
"Wow. Careful." He said.
"I got this." She said. Logan stepped back with his arms up defensively
"I saw that." He said leaning against the wall.
"But, thank you." She said trying again. She took another step, then another then jumped. She smiled and hugged me. "Thank you, Persia." She let go and sat with Emma who asked about the ankle.
"Good job, next time leave the saving for me." Logan said as he drifted down the wall and shook his head. He started organizing the med kit and neatly put into the bag.
"Sure, and I didn't think you'd be the clean and neat type." I said watching him zip the pack shut.
"Yea, well my mother was a neat freak to it kinda rubbed off on me. It also helps me remeber her. She died when I was eight, after my father abandoned us." He explained.
"Oh, but I admire that a lot. I'm pretty clean myself." I said. Logan blushed, but we were only friends.
"Thanks, I guess." He said looking over at Bethany. "I'll never get the girl." He mumbled. "I'm going to sleep, good night, its like three in the morning."
"Goodnight." I mumbled back. Scooting near the fire, I saw something shine in the corner of my eye. I looked at a woman with a silvery dress, and dark wavy hair. Her eyes were green and lips pink.
"Congrats Persia, you have changed part of the future, I am trapped, but beautiful now." She said smiling. "Remeber me..." She faded away. She was the one from my vision, how had I changed the future? Was I supposed to die in the arena? I thought about the prophecy:
Chosen are you, five must go, four return.
Night fall comes with the sleep you churn.
Non must enter, take the call.
All will end or one will fall.
Friend or foe you decide.
Take the wrong turn and you will die.
Fire persuaded, are you true.
Or will the one you trust the most turn to rule?
Five of us came, we sleep in the maze even if it isn't night, I was the one to enter into the arena. I ended the battle and I didn't die. The next line is "Friend or die you decide." All of the people here were my friends, Franky is my friend. Right?
"Persia." Emma drew her arm for me to come with them, knocking me out of thought. I sat next to her and on the other side of Emma was Bethany. She gave me a bowl of steaming rice and veggies.
"Thanks." I said shoving a spoonful in my mouth. Chris brought a bowl over to Logan, waking him up. I guess none of my friends saw the woman, it was only me and my visions. Chris sat down again next to me touching the fire making geometric shapes in it. I finished my food as Emma and Bethany shuffled back to the wall closing their eyes to sleep. I stared at Chris's fingertips in the fire then willed water to splash it out.
"That wasn't nice." He said staring at me raising his eyebrows.
"No," I said. "But it was fun." And he pulled me close so I leaned on his chest. With his heartbeat in my ears, I drifted to sleep.