by Katie Cherry
Left with not much to do, I roam through the Village. Although it’s quite large, it’s also very organized. I am currently in a section of the Village without many people out and about. The huts all look like the one I was sequestered in for the night, except for half of those in this section, which have colored doors- green, black, yellow, blue, orange, purple, and red. I can’t see the other sections from here, but it looks like the Village is organized according to function with a more open spot in the center.
Soon I come across a girl sitting in front of another of the smaller huts, looking lost. She is also wearing soft green clothes like mine, leading me to assume she is another ‘contestant’ recruited and dragged to this strange land.
“Hi,” I say, coming up to the girl. She stands and looks at me shyly through her long blonde hair. “Are you a contestant?” Looking surprised, she nods.
“Y- yes,” she stammers. “I’m from Earth. Uh- the second one? Vlad explained the differences, but it’s all still so confusing.”
“I’m from Second Earth too!” I say, a little surprised. “Are you waiting for Vlad?” She nods, her green eyes lowered. “Yeah, me too. But there’s no sign of him.”
“I know,” she sighs. “I’ve been waiting for him for almost half an hour, I think.”
“Well, let’s wait for him together,” I suggest. She agrees, and we sit together and start talking and introducing ourselves.
“My name is Sierra Davis,” she says. “I’m sixteen, and I like to do puzzles and art.”
“I’m Crystal Shay,” I reply. “I’m sixteen as well. I don’t really have any hobbies, although I suppose I also like to do puzzles, like chess and sudoku. …So, you mentioned Vlad. Did he ‘recruit’ you too?”
She laughs bitterly. “More like he dragged me here. He had me kidnapped, chucked in a room for a while, then told me an outrageous story about alternate universes and ‘Gifts’ that I could have. When I told him he’s insane, he laughed and said that I couldn’t escape, and that I am going to participate in the Games whether I like it or not.”
I laugh as well. “Sounds about right. I tried to fight, so he drugged my little sister and threatened me with her. I had to leave her behind and go with him. Vlad sure didn’t explain much about the Games themselves, though.”
“Yeah… I wonder why that is? Is it super dangerous? I just want to go home! Is that too much to ask?”
“Apparently it is,” another voice suddenly pipes in.
Jumping to my feet, I assume a defensive pose. “Who’s there?” I demand. A boy walks around the corner of the hut, hands in the air.
“Whoa! Calm down! I’m just here looking for Vlad. No need to attack.”
Examining him, I note the green clothes and relax, sitting back down next to Sierra. Peering up at the newcomer, I see that he has hazel eyes, short brown hair, and looks rather strong and lithe as well. I catch my breath. I’ve been meeting a few cute boys lately, and this one is no different. I feel a blush starting to blossom on my cheeks as I think about what kind of first impression I must have made. I clear my throat and try to cover up my embarrassment. “You must be another contestant, then.”
“Yep,” he confirms, plopping down next to me. “Either of you have any idea where Vlad got to? Not that I really want to know, it’s just that he said he would talk to me outside my hut at ten, but he never showed. When I went to look for him, I came across you two. Did Vladimir drag you guys along as well?”
We both nod. “I thought so,” he continues. “Well, now is as good a time as ever to start making new friends, right? My name is Nathan Anderson. I’m sixteen and have a little sister, Anna, who’s four. She’s at home on ‘First Earth’ with my parents and Grandma Beryl. So Vlad, of course, threatened to hurt them to get me to come along. Anything like that happened to either of you?”
I nod. “Yes, he captured my little sister along with me and then threatened me with her. So I had no other choice but to come along with that lunatic. She’s only nine!”
“We should find him and give him a piece of our minds,” Sierra pipes up. Nathan and I agree, standing and looking around.
“Um… any idea where we should go?” I ask. They both shake their heads, as lost as I am. I sigh and continue to look around, finally spotting a tall, gray-haired man strolling just outside the group of huts, a long black walking cane in his hand, although he doesn’t appear to need it. “Hey, how about we go ask him? He might know where Vlad is,” I suggest. They both agree, so we make our way over to the man. He spots us and stops to wait for us; his hands folded patiently over his cane.
Before we can say anything, he guesses at what we’re about to say. “You three are looking for Vladimir, aren’t you?” Surprised at his accurate guess, we nod. “Ah, just as I thought. Vladimir must be testing how resourceful you are. He told you he would be at your hut for you, correct? At least tell me he didn’t neglect to inform you of today’s events?”
We shrug in unison. “All he told us,” Nathan answers, “is that we would be meeting the other contestants and some ‘advisors’ named Thaddeus, Zelda, and Y’vette. He didn’t tell us where to go, though, and he didn’t tell us any details about the Games or just what we are supposed to do.”
The man sighs. “It’s just not like him to shirk his duties like that… I’m Thaddeus. I’ll show you three to the place where the rest of the contestants are meeting each other and their advisors. Vladimir is, I believe, meeting with someone he doesn’t even personally advise.” Shaking his head, he sighs again. “He was told not to choose favorites. Oh, well. That cannot be helped right now, of course. Please, follow me,” he says before turning and leading the way toward the center of the Village.
After following him for a short while, we enter a clearing in the center of the town; a square area with cobblestone flooring and some wooden tables that are nearly hidden from our point of view because of the large stage at one end of the area. There are a handful of people wandering around, talking to each other. Most of them are dressed in the same contestant outfit we’re garbed in. “Welcome to the Town Square,” Thaddeus says, waving an arm toward it in a grand gesture. “Feel free to wander, or simply seek out Vladimir and speak with him. He has much more to tell you.”
Thanking him, we continue down the slight slope into the Square. Before we can cut our way through the gathering to Vlad, however, a guy with brown hair and stunning blue eyes comes up to us. Walking between Sierra and me, he lays an arm on our shoulders. Annoyed, I shrug it off and continue in my pursuit of our deserting advisor.
“Hey!” he calls, jogging up in front of me, forcing me to stop. “What’s the big rush? This time is for meeting other contestants, like me! So, how do you do?” he asks with a flirty grin, his white teeth flashing for a moment in the sunlight. “My name is Jake Elwood, and I’m almost eighteen. I’m from Ponorama, and I love to run, play sports, and wrestle any monsters that come near my village,” he gloats, watching expectantly for an impressed reaction. I cross my arms and wait impatiently for him to finish. “Who are you, gorgeous?”
“Crystal Shay from Second Earth. Now go away, I need to talk to Vladimir right now.” I’m generally not this forward, especially with a guy I don’t even know, but right now I’m not in the mood to play the kind of games guys like him like to play with girls.
He whistles and sounds as if he’s hurt. “Ouch! A feisty one, eh? Well that suits me just fine. You’ll learn, Crystal. I’m not your enemy, so you don’t need to treat me like one. And by the way, I love your eyes. That outfit really makes them pop.” And with that, he saunters away, leaving me even more flustered and confused than when I first came here.
Shaking it off, we start heading towards Vlad again, only to find that thanks to Jake’s delaying us, he had slipped away once more. Frustrated, I turn to a lady near us with short brown hair and green eyes with a strand of brown in them. “Excuse me,” I begin politely. “But do you know where we can find Vladimir? He seems to be avoiding us
.”
She laughs. “That’s probably because he is! Vladimir loves to be that shady character, lurking in the shadows. He must be avoiding you so he can watch and see how well you adapt to new circumstances. But you want some answers, don’t you? Well, ask away. I’m an advisor too, you know. My name is Zelda. How can I help you?”
Nathan answers her for all of us. “Could you explain the Games in more detail? We have no idea what we’re in for. Vlad didn’t tell us much.”
“I don’t know that could tell you much more, to be honest,” she replies. “It’s supposed to be a surprise for everyone but we advisors, but I can tell you that you will go through many Challenges, facing some of the different creatures that live here, or facing other teams. There are a few different Challenges that you will go through, although there isn’t a definite number yet known, even to us. I’m afraid I also can’t tell you what the First Challenge is. That would be cheating! We strive to have a certain measure of equality in place in the Challenges, so we won’t be letting one person know more than another.
“The Challenges are meant to bring out your Gifts. Each one tests one or more specific skills. It may be fighting, logistical skills, speed, etc., so we can attempt to find your Gifts. Your advisor should be beginning to help you develop some of these necessary skills today. Vlad should show his face by then, but for now, go ahead and be social butterflies! Make some new friends! Lunch will be served around noon. If you get tired and wish to take a nap or just relax or explore a little, then you may go into the woods, providing that one of us is with you, so you do not get lost or attacked by any creatures that live at the edge of the woods. Have fun!” she cheers, then flits away to talk to someone else.
“Well, I doubt we’ll get to Vlad until after lunch, then,” Sierra sighs. We nod, equally disappointed. “So what do we do now? Talk to the other contestants? Because I don’t feel like trying to socialize anymore today,” she adds. Nathan and I agree.
“What do you think we should do?” Nathan asks me. I guess I’ve already become sort of the leader of our little group. “Relaxing in the woods sounded nice… being away from all these other people…”
I shrug. “That definitely sounds better than talking about ourselves over and over again with a bunch of competitors.” They both agree, so we head towards the trees that we can see to the East of the Village. As we go, I feel someone watching me, so I turn to find who it is. The only person I notice looking our way is a short, somewhat chubby kid with blond hair that’s almost short enough to be a buzz cut. The instant he catches me peering at him, however, he turns away.
Hmm, I frown, turning back to face my new friends. Why on earth was that kid watching us? Not even just watching… he seemed to be staring. Shaking my head, I banish my worries. I can figure that out another time. It doesn’t matter right now. Taking a deep breath, I turn and follow Nathan and Sierra to the treeline. Already the trees’ song is relaxing me, soothing my fears and pushing them out of my mind momentarily. Sitting down in the lush green grass, I lean back against a tree and breathe in the sweet scent carried in the gentle breeze.
Letting go of all my worries, I finally feel at peace for the first time in a long time. In fact, I don’t think I’ve ever felt this peaceful and relaxed. I was always worried about what others thought of me and the things I had to get done. But right now, I don’t have a care in the world.
After about an hour of dozing in the shade of the trees, I snap back to alertness with the nagging feeling of something being wrong. Unable to put my finger on it, I lay back down and try to relax, but I can’t seem to be able to. My muscles are tense and my mind won’t stop racing, trying to figure out what was making the hair all over my body stand on end. Something is definitely wrong. Sitting back up, I look around, but there’s nothing in sight but trees and the near edge of the Village. Suddenly the words Zelda said to us come back to me. “…You may go into the woods, provided that one of us is with you, so you do not get lost or attacked by any creatures that live at the edge of the woods.”
Creatures in the woods? I think, feeling panic bubble up in my chest. What- what kind of creatures? What would they do to us?... It’s probably best not to find out the hard way! I hurriedly conclude. Standing, I walk over to my sleeping companions and shake them gently. They are completely out. Are they just sleeping… or are they literally knocked out? What happened to them? Why won’t they wake up?! I wonder, my panic deepening.
I shake them harder, but there’s no response. Something suddenly rustles in the woods just a few steps away from us. I tense, preparing to defend my new friends from this unseen threat. However, the only thing that emerges from the rustling bush is a cute little bunny. Relieved, I bend down and pick it up, rubbing its long, floppy ears. I sneeze, and for some inexplicable reason, I begin feeling drowsy again. My eyes are sliding shut, and I can’t seem to stop them.
Just before they close entirely, however, I turn towards the sound of a shout, coming from the direction of the Village and catch sight of the guy who was watching us earlier. Seeing me, he breaks into a sprint.
And then, my eyelids slam shut and I black out.
*****
“Please… please wake up… please be okay…”
Startled by a voice I don’t recognize, I instinctively react as my self-defense teacher has always taught me and jump up, defending my torso and preparing to attack. I quickly fall back onto the bed, however, my body not entirely obeying me and my head thumping in time with my heart. The person standing before me is the blond boy I last saw running towards me before I blacked out. He looks startled, scrambling back a few steps, before letting out a puff of air between his lips.
“Oh, good! You’re alive!” he exclaims, clearly relieved. This statement strikes me as odd. Alive? Of course I’m alive, why wouldn’t I be?
“What- what happened?” I groan, holding my head between my hands, trying to get the deep, throbbing pain to go away.
“What happened is that you three went into the woods alone, even though Zelda specifically warned you that it was not safe to do so,” a familiar voice lectures.
“Oh, well how nice of you to finally show up, Vlad,” I respond, unexpected bitterness entering my voice. “Way to be a supportive advisor. Great job advising us! Don’t tell us that you will be there and then not show up next time! We’re supposed to rely on you, yet you haven’t proven yourself able to do anything but drag us to this terrorizing land. You’re supposed to tell us about things that could kill or harm us, not disappear until we’re in the hospital!” When I finally finish my tirade, I notice that not only did I get back on my feet, but my voice had also risen louder than I intended. Maybe I shouldn’t have yelled, but I’m just too upset and fed up to hold back the outburst. His job is to help us and teach us, but so far he’s done anything but that.
The blond kid glances back and forth between our faces, looking rather frightened as I unleash my anger at Vlad. As for Vlad… well, his face is turning red, and the veins in his neck are beginning to bulge. It feels almost as though he was a completely different person from the Vladimir I met yesterday. But then again, I’ve only known him for a few hours. His reaction scares me, but he then calms himself- after a brief struggle with himself- and says, “Consider yourself without an advisor, then. I will not advise someone like you. I refuse. Good luck finding yourself another one! After I tell them all of your insolence, none of them will take you in and teach you,” he says with a calm madness in his voice. His mouth twitches upward into a small smile, clearly satisfied with his actions.
“Fine,” I respond, the reality of the consequences of what he just said not quite hitting me just yet. “It’s not like I really even had an advisor in the first place.”
This seems to make him even more furious, stripping away the cool face he had managed to put on. He storms out of the room without another word, slamming the door behind him. The blond kid looks at me, surprise and awe in his blue eyes. “Wow. I cannot believe
you just stood up to Vladimir like that.” I shrug, sitting back down on the bed with a wince. “No, seriously. That guy is way scary. And not only that, but now you have next to no chance of winning the Games. Advisors are necessary in order to win- honestly, they’re needed to even survive on a Realm that’s new to you.”
Again I shrug. “Oh, well. I’m better off alone than trying to lean on someone who’s not there and end up being hurt and let down. Besides, I’m sure I can get one of the other advisors to help me out, despite what Vlad might say. I’ve already talked to Zelda, and she seemed to like me well enough. Plus, they said that we would be put into teams, right? Well, I’m sure if I need to know something, then my team member will teach me,” I say with confidence I never knew I had.
The boy’s stare increases in disbelief. “Wow. I want you on my team! You’re so strong and confident! I wish I could be more like that… By the way, my name is Ham Jacobson. I’m from Ponorama. I was actually taken here on my seventeenth birthday,” he sighs.
“Oh my goodness! That’s rough,” I sympathize. “I’m Crystal Shay from Second Earth. Um… soo I was wondering… is there any way you could explain what happened?”
“What are you referring to?” he asks jokingly. “You probably have a million questions for everything that’s happened recently! I know I would.”
I laugh. “You know what I mean. Why were you watching me as I made my way to the woods? Why did that bunny put me to sleep? Why did you say that it’s a good thing I’m alive as if you didn’t expect me to be? And if you’re that concerned about me, how are Nathan and Sierra?”