by G. Bailey
I want to tell him it’s all going to be okay, but lying isn’t worth it and he’s too smart to believe me anyway. Luke can’t protect me when I step through these doors. In fact, no one but myself can do that. And protecting myself is exactly what I intend to do. Surviving this round is my target. Impressing the governor my mission.
I steel my back and turn around, crossing my arms as I wait for the doors to open. It almost feels like I’m a gladiator, waiting for the moment I step out into the arena to fight for my life. I guess it’s a little true. A mechanical buzz sounds overheard as the doors swing apart and the group heads inside. I follow last, stepping into the cold room, and the doors snap shut behind me like the lid on a coffin.
The Shadow Warden who brought me to this prison is standing waiting for us. He looks every bit the stern military man in his ebony uniform with his taser held at his side like a cane. A new gold badge on his collar has his name inscribed: Warden Kyle. That’s a name I’ll surely never forget.
“Welcome to the Blood Trials.” He gestures around the hall but doesn’t bother pointing to the arena. I suppose he doesn’t have to since most of us have already seen what happens down there. “This is a tradition created by the fae kings and queens of old. It is meant to test the strength of those who are imprisoned for their crimes. If you win the first round, you will pass into the second and final one that will decide your fate. This round, however, will test your endurance and innovation skills. A pack of fellow inmates will be joining you inside, but be warned. Their goal is to obtain this and the only way to do so is by killing you.”
He flicks his hand in a circular motion, and a glowing red orb swings around his finger.
“You will each have an orb like this that will be magically bound to you and your power. The object of the game is easy: obtain as many orbs as you can and the three survivors at the end will win. It’s blood for blood here in this arena, so don’t give any mercy when none shall be shown to you. There are no rules. No repercussions. You can do anything to win. Play dirty for all we care, yet keep it entertaining. We have fae watching.”
I follow his gaze to the top corner of the arena, where Gold and a flock of aristocrats are watching through a magical shield. I’m not surprised to find out Gold is fae. His incinerating eyes search the faces of the group, and when they land on me and the corner of his lips turn into a smile, my stomach clenches.
“Why do the fae want to watch us?” I mutter quietly, but Warden Kyle catches my words.
“Figure it out yourself,” he snaps.
I get the feeling he will never tell me the answer and anything as simple as they like to watch death doesn’t make sense. I’ve heard the courts of the fae have enough death, pain and pleasure to put the mortal world to shame. Maybe this is just another perverse game of theirs?
Warden Kyle waves his hand and the orb disappears into thin air. “As for rewards… Well, if you put on a good enough show, you might get everything you’ll ever need in Shadowborn Prison. You may even get to join the governor’s pack.”
I grin. That is exactly what I want.
“So there’s your incentive. Now, turn around and get ready. You have five minutes.”
I turn around to see various walk-in lockers with our names on them. I open the door to my own one and step into a freezing cold room. On the wall is a white catsuit and matching trainers on the floor. I quickly strip off and pull the catsuit on. The material is super tight yet flexible, but it’s not going to leave much to the imagination, especially not with my black sports bra and panties. Once I pull the shoes on, the door on the other side slams open and I walk through it.
I enter a room with stacks of weapons piled high on the tiled floor. The other inmates are scrambling to get the best ones. I rush over, finding a belt full of knives, and I clip it around my waist. I sift through the pile and grab two magical guns which I’ve only ever seen on the hips of the prison wardens. I know one shot from these will instantly kill you. I clip them onto my belt and by the time I look back, the only thing on the ground is an old-looking machete, but it will do. Lastly, I find a chest sword holder near the back of the room and wrap it around my chest before sliding the sword into it on my back.
Once everyone has geared up and we wait for the next step, I eye the room we are in and the inmates I’m going to have to beat for this to work. The room is circular on one side and the other has a row of twenty lockers. The spherical part of the room has at least thirty holes with steel doors shut against them, making me wonder what the hell they are for. I instantly spot a problem when four of the biggest guys huddle together and start talking. They weren’t gathered outside so I can only assume they are the inmates the warden warned us about. Fuck. And they also happen to be the ones who challenged me at breakfast—minus the guy I punched in the throat. Coen’s gaze lands on me and I look away, contemplating my nails as if his existence means nothing to me. I hear him chuckling, and I know for sure he’ll be gunning for me the moment the game begins. Either I take him out first, or I run as fast as I can. I guess I’ll make my decision once we enter the arena.
As for the rest of the inmates, they’re a complete mixture. Some of them I wonder why they would enter this thing in the first place, especially the one boy with curly red hair that looks no older than sixteen. And then there’s Abigail. Sweet little Abigail. She’s managed to wield a sword rather impressively, but the tiny gun attached to the holster on her hip won’t hold many rounds. I hope she thinks on her feet and runs the second this all kicks off.
From a speaker somewhere in the room, a loud countdown begins. It counts from fifty down to zero, and then the steel doors of the holes pull open. Hovering within each of them is a red orb made of glass that shimmers with dark magic.
A mechanical female voice fills the room. “Welcome to the first round of the Blood Trials. Take an orb and slide down the hole once the countdown stops. May the goddess Selena be with you.”
I don’t need telling twice.
I rush to the hole in front of me, wrapping my hands around the orb. It immediately zooms to my leg, attaching itself to my thigh and shrinking in size. I turn my leg to the side to see tiny holes in a line going down and I’m guessing that’s how I hold the orbs. The countdown continues until we get to the final part.
Three.
Two.
One.
I hold back a scream as air sucks me into the hole before I can let go, and I fly straight down, falling straight out into the open air. A pained gasp gets stuck in my throat as I bounce into what feels like a net and my body rolls into a stop. Eventually, I tip off the side of the net and smack onto a pile of thick wet leaves. Well aware that the others are aiming to kill me, I jump up and look around just as a guy rolls off the net and lunges for me. He falls on top of me, and I scream, more out of shock than anything, and wrestle him to the ground. His hand wraps around my throat as his other one reaches for the sword on his back. I slide a knife out of my belt, my lungs begging for air, and all I can do is slam my dagger into his throat. His blood gushes out onto my face and his eyes widen into lifeless plates as he falls off me, coughing blood everywhere.
My entire body is shaking. I’m all adrenaline right now, and that’s all I really need. I quickly assess the air and I’m relieved to see that I’m alone as far as I’m aware. The landscape looks like a rainforest and everything feels so real, from the exotic bird calls cloying the dense air, to the droplets of water raining down from the canopies. I look back to the listless body splayed at my feet. He isn’t the first guy I’ve killed, and should I need to defend myself here, he won’t be my last.
A sliver of guilt lodges in my throat as I tear his orb from him and stick it to my thigh. I also take his sword since he won’t be using it and clip it to my back, then I stand and take a deep inhale of the air. The intense warmth of the rainforest is stifling. It’s insane how realistic this place is despite only being a simulation. It’s just magic twisted into a game I intend on winning.
I glance down at my now blood-covered suit and shake my head. No matter how flexible and waterproof the material is, this is the worst thing to wear in a place where I’m being hunted. There’s nothing discreet about it.
I dart into the trees. My shoes sink into the soft earth as I look around for a tree big enough to temporarily hide me. I find one and quickly sink down into its damp leaves. I dig through them to the wetter mud below and grab a handful. I rub it all over my catsuit, hoping to provide a bit of much-needed camouflage. Once I run the mud through my silver hair, I draw three lines on my cheeks for luck and stand up.
Time to go hunting.
Digging out two daggers, I trek through the forest, staying close to the trees. I wonder if I should climb them to get a better angle, but then I hear a long, echoing growl that is way too loud for my liking. By the time I turn around, a monstrous tiger pounces off the tree, its claws going straight for my throat. I don’t have time to be scared or think about my decision. I let instincts take over and shift into my snow-white wolf, knowing this is a fight for her. She bursts out of me in pure, undulating fury and pounces up to meet the tiger in midair.
They clash like a storm.
The tiger’s claws dig into her hide as she takes a chunk of flesh between her fangs, tasting blood in her mouth. This creature might be huge, but my wolf is bigger, and she uses every ounce of weight and strength to overpower it onto the ground. Clawing and gnawing her way to victory, she lands on top of the beast and tears out its throat in one bite, her huge paws bathed in its blood. With a long howl, she shifts back, and I nearly fall to my knees from all the cuts covering my body. Fortunately, I’m not deeply wounded and adrenaline is helping to stifle the pain right now. I look over at the dead tiger just as it slowly bursts into a cloud of dust. It was clearly only part of the simulation and not real, which meant its efforts weren’t a match for my wolf. I have a feeling she’ll be helping me out a lot during this fight. I straighten off the ground after a long, deep exhale, and smudge more mud over my clothes.
“Did you hear that? It was this way!”
Shit. Those voices are close.
I grab the daggers I dropped during my shift before running in the opposite direction of the voices. The good thing about being small and petite is my footsteps are light and I’m mindful of my breathing and every noise that I make. I listen for any sounds that don’t seem quite right. The sound of water rushing over rocks sticks out the most, and I come to a halt. Water is usually the best place to start in a situation like this, right? I follow the sound and step out of the trees toward a truly breathtaking waterfall.
Unfortunately, I’m not alone as a trio of boys emerges from the other side. They must be working together to steal as many orbs as they can. One of them already has five attached to his leg. They smile when they see me and run into the water, wading their way through. I search around for an escape just before I hear their screams. I look back to see them all frozen, screaming in agony as gigantic eels wrap around their legs. The boys scream and beg for my help while the eels slither up their bodies, eventually wrapping around their necks and popping their heads like crushes melons.
Okay. The water is deadly.
Got it.
All of them are suddenly pulled under the water and then five orbs float out a second later. They hover for a moment before shooting towards me and attaching themselves to my legs. That’s seven orbs now, including my own. Surely that would put me in the top three of the winners?
“Right. I need to hide until the end,” I whisper to myself, looking around for a tree to hide in.
I spot a big enough one not far from here and I run over to it, using one of my knives to help me climb. But the bark is actually quite thick and uneven, which makes it easier than I thought it would be to climb. I pass four branches before I find a heavy one that has a good vantage point over the rainforest below. Even though this is all fake, my heart still hurts for those three dead guys and the tiger. I know the tiger wasn’t real but those guys definitely were. I remember seeing them in the armory.
Please, Selena, say none of this is real.
I spend time checking out my cuts, noticing that other than three lines on my ribs, the rest have stopped bleeding and will heal quickly. The one on my ribs might need something. I rip my sleeve with my knife and cut it so it makes a long bandage before wrapping it around my ribs, stopping the bleeding for now.
A far-off cry in the distance is swiftly silenced, the sound chilling me to my core.
“Please leave me alone! Yo-you can have it!”
The girl’s pleading is filled with desperation, and a feeling of dead twists my stomach as I register who the voice belongs to.
Abigail.
I look down to see the girl I was training just a few days ago. She’s standing in the bushes, holding her orb up to a pack of wolves in surrender. The four of them stand in a line, their black fur bristling from the shadow magic that shimmers around them. Where’s the alpha? I know there’s supposed to be five of them, including Coen. The wolves growl and snap at Abigail as she throws the orb at them and turns to run. Just as I go to jump down and help her, I’m already too late. An enormous brown wolf, littered in scars and blood that oozes down its throat, emerges from the shadows. It must be Coen judging by his mismatched eyes. He lands on top of Abigail and rips her to pieces before my eyes. Her screams fill the air as the other wolves join in and tear her limb from limb. I cover my mouth with my hand before my scream can escape and turn away, tears falling down my cheeks as I silently scream into my palm.
Bright white light blasts against my eyes and a rush of cold air sweeps around me as I suddenly fall to the ground. The tree I was in is now gone. An empty black room surrounds me. My chest feels like it’s going to explode as I try to catch my breath. I look around, and there, not ten feet away, stands Coen, decked out in orbs just like the rest of his pack. He’s holding what remains of Abigail and he’s smiling at me, his face covered in her blood. His tongue pokes out like a viper and licks the residue from his lips. I want to kill him. I want to slit his throat with my own blade and take down every member of his pack. But my adrenaline is beginning to wear off, and a woozy sensation takes hold of me.
I don’t remember hearing the cheers of inmates or the governor clapping before heading back to my cage. I don’t even notice that Luke isn’t here. I just shut my cage door, peel off my bloodstained clothes, and crawl onto my bed. I’ve seen a lot of things in my eighteen years. Never have I seen so little regard for magic life. And for what? Sport? Entertainment? Abigail was right—life and death are truly meaningless in this world. We’re just pawns of puppeteers. We mean nothing to the fae that cage us. At this rate, I’ll never make it out of here alive. There’s got to be a way to put an end to the Blood Trials…
A sharp pain stings me on my stomach and I snap awake. My eyes tumble into Luke’s sitting on the edge of my bed, his cold fingers hard at work on my ribs, gently rubbing a thick oil into the cuts.
“They are infected, and shit, you don’t deserve to die that way,” he whispers softly, but then in the blink of an eye he stands and clears his throat.
I feel like he’s always fighting with himself about whether he should like me or not.
I straighten up, grabbing my shirt off the floor and pulling it over me. “Thanks.”
He nods once. “I also bought you dinner from the governor.”
I follow his gaze to the box at the bottom of my bed. I did wonder what the nice smell was. I gently reach over and open the box, discovering a selection of cakes at the top. When I pull them out there is a roast dinner concealed in a plastic tray underneath. Actual food. I almost drop the box in shock. This is from the governor?
“Eat up. I have a surprise reward for you later,” Luke instructs, pushing off the bed.
“Reward?” I echo, my stomach grumbling despite the atrocities of the arena still plaguing my mind.
He raises a brow. “Surprise reward.”
; I sit back on my bed and smile weakly at him, trying to push the bloody memories from my mind. He steps outside the cage, his back facing me, leaving me to eat my food. I’m surprised by how hungry I am and I practically wolf everything down. I do feel a little better after eating. Opting to leave the cakes for later, I stand up and walk over to Luke, who steps aside to let me out. He’s silent most of the way down the corridor.
“Did you see the Blood Trials?” I ask as we head through the main part of the prison. He doesn’t answer me but I come to a halt just as five familiar-looking men walk past with the piles of bodies from the arena. They’ve just dumped them into a bunch of wheelbarrows like they’re nothing. I spot Abigail’s blond hair poking out from the plastic sheet. Tyler, the guy I throat punched, sniggers as he wheels her past.
“I watched every second,” Luke answers, pausing to glare at them, Coen in particular, who looks like he’s just won the fucking lottery. “Some people are born evil, Izora.”
He takes my arm, but before he drags me away, I tell him, “And some people have the gods behind them when they get revenge for the fallen.”
I look intently at him, waiting for him to say something. He just takes me down a long, empty hallway, and towards a door that says ‘WARDENS ONLY’.
“Revenge is a road you don’t wanna go down,” he warns, making sure to catch my gaze.
I frown right back at him. Revenge and wanting to be free is all I have left now. “You might be my warden out here. But who says you can tell me what to do in the arena?”